A new report from Korea says Hyundai has arranged internally to hand off the Apple Car project to Kia, possibly paving the way for production on US soil.
According to eDaily:
It is known that the Hyundai Motor Group (005380), which received a proposal from Apple for electric vehicle-related cooperation, has internally arranged that Kia ( Kia Motors (000270) ) is in charge of this project. If Kia decides to do this, the Apple car production base will be at Kia’s Georgia plant in the US.
The report says discussions were had on Tuesday related to “Apple Car cooperation”. According to the report, when Kia “confirms” this, the project will be carried out at the company’s West Point plant in Georgia, US. The report notes that making the car in the United States would “facilitate cooperation with Apple”. Whilst recent reports had tipped parent company Hyundai as a leading prospective partner, this new report says Hyundai doesn’t think it is best suited to Apple Car “because of its strong will” to grow its own brand, and that it doesn’t want to become an OEM factory for Apple cars. The report concludes by stating Hyundai “is still cautious” and that the move has not yet been decided.
The report follows “confirmation” from Hyundai it was in talks to produce an electric car in partnership with Apple, comments it quickly walked back a day later.
Reports from supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo state Apple’s Car is coming in 2025 at the earliest, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has also reiterated that an Apple Car is at least five years away.
