Electric Vehicles: Are Hyundai And Kia Collaborating With Apple?

Kia, Hyundai Motor Company and Apple, Inc. are said to be nearing a deal in producing self-driving electric vehicles.  

After years of speculation that Apple will eventually do business with its own car products, the tech company is reportedly now finalizing the deal with Hyundai Motor and Kia to manufacture autonomous electric cars that fall into the Apple brand. The production is at the assembly plant in West Point, Georgia state according to Korea Times. 

Known to be the "Apple Car," the vehicle brand is now being developed by the Apple team and will go into production in 2024, but insiders who are familiar with discussions between the tech firm and the car companies are saying that the rollout might even be pushed back. 

It is because no agreement has been reached yet between these companies. Furthermore, they are saying that Apple might instead partner with a different car manufacturer, adding this to their nearing collaboration with Hyundai. The shares of Apple increased more than two percent after hours with this news.

As of press time, Apple, Hyundai and Kia spokespersons are declining to comment and issue official statements on this report.  

According to CNBC, people familiar with the talks seek to know why Apple will choose to collaborate with Hyundai and Kia. They are saying that each of the car companies is seeing the unique benefit in working with each other to develop self-driving vehicles. 

For Apple, their decision to build such cars will open the potential to tap the worldwide auto and mobility market, valued at $10 trillion. Katy Huberty, an analyst at financial services company Morgan Stanley, explained the potential profit Apple could earn. 

"Smartphones are a $500bn annual total addressable market. Apple has about one-third of this market. The mobility market is $10 trillion. So Apple would only need a 2% share of this market to be the size of their iPhone business," she stated.