According to Sanford C. Bernstein analysts, BMW could make for an ideal match for “Apple Car” assembly that would pair Apple’s Project Titan project with BMW’s leading innovation and manufacturing know-how talents.
Christoph Rauwald for Bloomberg News:
While discussions have focused on Asian carmakers including Hyundai Motor Co., it’s not the first time BMW’s name has entered the mix.
“In our view, BMW would be the ideal partner for Apple,” analysts Arndt Ellinghorst and Toni Sacconaghi said in a report. “Both companies have a leading innovation claim, superior brand equity and design and are excellent in global manufacturing and value chain management.”
About half a decade ago, reports surfaced of Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook visiting BMW’s Munich headquarters. Senior Apple executives traveled to the German luxury-car maker’s Leipzig factory to study how the quirky i3 electric hatchback is made.
MacDailyNews Take: Although an Apple car would likely compete with makers of premium vehicles, it’s important that Apple’s assembler has a strong brand, like BMW, that can stand on its own without being overshadowed (or is a contract assembler already, like Magna Steyr or the budding vehicle assembler Foxconn).
If Apple partnered with a weaker brand (Kia, for example), not only would Apple have to overcome their assembler’s brand reputation, but odds are high that Apple would obliterate that brand. If Apple worked with a Kia, it’d make a ton of sense for both companies that the endeavor to be spun out from Kia as its own entity, with a new name free of any baggage, dedicated solely to contract assembly.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]