Disagreements within Hyundai Group, Apple suspends negotiations with Hyundai-Kia

According to Bloomberg News, a person familiar with the matter disclosed that Apple did have discussions with Hyundai Motors and Kia Motors about the production of electric vehicles, but the negotiations have been suspended. In addition, Apple is also negotiating with other automakers on similar plans.

Apple declined to comment on this matter. In January of this year, Hyundai Motor issued a statement saying that it was negotiating with Apple, but subsequently revised the statement. It was this statement and other reports related to the negotiations that disturbed Apple. The company has kept development projects confidential for many years and has controlled relations with suppliers with near-rigorous efficiency.

It is not clear whether Apple and Hyundai will restart negotiations, or when they will restart. From a global perspective, there are not many manufacturers with production capacity and large-scale automobile manufacturing capabilities, and it is unclear how many are interested in cooperating with Apple.

A few days ago, Tianfeng Securities analyst Ming-Chi Guo predicted that Apple will cooperate with Hyundai Group in-depth cooperation with Apple Motors, and if the cooperation model with Hyundai goes well, Apple may also cooperate with General Motors and PSA to develop other products in the future. Model. If the cooperation with Hyundai-Kia is put on hold, I wonder if Apple will consider the other two car companies.

In addition to Apple's doubts about related reports, there are other issues in the negotiation between the two parties. A person familiar with the matter said that one of the issues is the disagreement within the Hyundai Group, that is, which brand Hyundai and Kia produce cars for Apple. According to the person familiar with the matter, if the negotiations are finally resumed, Kia is more likely to consider producing Apple cars at its plant in Georgia, the United States.

Another key question is whether Apple really wants to compete with electric car manufacturers such as Tesla and General Motors, and whether the company really needs to cooperate with traditional car manufacturers to launch its own products . Due to Apple's high degree of secrecy of the project, everything is unknown.

According to the information reported by the current media, Apple has a small team of engineers and designers to develop the drive system. However, since the development work is still in the early stage, the product may not be launched in the next five years, so Apple has More time to decide on potential automotive industry partners.