Report claims Apple talking with Volkswagen over 'iCar' - Page 2

Revolutionize??? why, what so bad about the way it is right now, does it need extra features?
Has worked just fine for me for years now, or maybe its minus years, cant remember when i started...

It's also completely our individual choice to call it unreasonable to reject VW for the claimed "moral" reason. Why hurt the grandchildren of the people that did something bad? How many generations do you think it's reasonable for a person to carry that standard of punishing a person because of their ancestry? That's more or less what's being discussed here. It's about as reasonable as rejecting Mazda because their logo is odd.

You can boycott all American products and you don't have to read personal politicall views.

Unfair?

Wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong.

The OP made a comment about the USA (country) and you replied with a comment about Africa (a continent). You cannot compare Apples with Lemons, try again and this time use a country as an example, otherwise you are just showing your ignorance.

but iCar is already taken

http://www.i-car.com/

So a post i made back in June...

I don't see why so many of you are down on the concept.

But VW is not a good choice. The Apple of the auto world is, by far, Honda.

The Germans make nice cars, but they are always the same, evolving glacially. Honda comes up with totally new things all the time. Some don't do that well, but are worthy of admiration anyway, just like Apple. Think of the Insight and the Cube. When even the marketing misses are worth looking at, when a company is willing to take risks and try new things in industrial design, that's the Apple way. Also like Apple, Honda is willing to go orthogonal from their main product line. Honda sells motorcycles (which was actually how they started), and ever hear of the Honda Jet?

VW just makes automobiles, and the most radical thing they can think of is to go retro using a 70-year old design as a base. VW has made nice cars, I'm not saying they haven't. But the only thing Applish about VW is the style of their early advertising, which Jobs was probably inspired by at some point. That, and the fact that early VW bug owners could be thought of as "Thinking Different". But from an industrial design point of view, VW has always been the opposite to Apple.

On boy.

...Meh, never mind...

Perhaps VW should team with Acer.

I'd believe Volkswagen and Apple make perfect sense. Cool meets cool.

I also believe this is a tactical response to the Japanese car manufacturers' cooperation on developing an operating system for their vehicles. Apple will need to do some serious bug testing and bashing before their OS runs a vehicle. If the cooperation is just for entertainment systems then great. Anything more and I'm steering clear of the iCar (pun intended).

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/07...andard-car-os/

Judging by the posts on here it is clearly obvious that many folks on here do not know much about cars, which is cool i guess seen as this is a computer forum. And of course a largely American forum and we will all agree that the Americans build pretty crap and uninspiring cars. But with that in mind it needs to be noted that Steve Jobs never met with anyone from Volkswagen as one would gather from the article but met with the Volkswagen group.

Martin Winterkorn is the Cheif Executive of the Volkswagen Group, this is a company that owns Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti (The fastest production car in the world), plus it should be noted that a major share holder of the VW group is in fact Porsche. Now you are gonna have a tough time naming a cooler car company that that.

if Apple designs a car, will it come with windows installed?
will you have to restart the car to operate windows?

i'm psyched that apple chose VW. i drive an audi TT and love the thing. decent power for a tiny little car, and all wheel drive to rock the northeast winters. it's design is bold and unique. very apple.

honda is NOT the apple of the car world. honda is more like the Dell of the car world. everyone's got one because they're cheap and you can add all kinds of stupid superchargers, neon and giant spoilers to them from third party vendors.

apple::think different / audi::never follow

Very few Honda owners do that. It's unfair for you to cast the whole bunch in a bad light for that.

I think the comparison comes out because Hondas have a reputation for being reliable, long lasting, hold their value very well and generally the look is tastefully designed. VWs aren't necessarily all that great from a reliability perspective, and they have that thing they call the Golf.

i don't think iPods are long lasting, nor do they hold their value. most cars are tastefully designed, save the xA, xB, Aztek, Prius, almost everything from GM/Ford...

sorry for the stereotype, maybe it's not true, maybe it's just the case everywhere i've ever lived, worked, visited, vacationed in, or driven through.

Honda's S2000! Is that the Porsche that requires oil added to the gasoline?

I see myself making my deliveries in a brand new, 2010 VW Khombi, using the smart HUD to navigate the shortest route between my clients while I interface with my home computer to make an inventory update and send the new invoice to the printer under the dashboard. The smart HUD's cameras register that my eyes are looking at my iTunes icon and open up a playlist that I scroll through using eye movements and blinks. At night, there is a set of headlights that turn as my head and eyes turn, while the other set stays on the road. Certain objects and landmarks can be highlighted on the HUD as they are described on the GPS map, perhaps even highlighting the streets ahead where you are supposed to turn. How about indicators that display where microchipped pets are in proximity to your car? Or outside cameras that identify objects, especially moving ones, and can trigger collision warnings?

I think with Apple and Volkswagen together, the possibilities are endless.

In America perhaps. In Europe Honda have a reputation as the brand the over 50s choose when they retire and keep until they die. Admittedly that's partly Honda Europe's problem as they don't bring in the more 'interesting' Honda cars like the Element, Insight or Cube. The only exception is the Type R cars but whilst those might technically be good fast cars, the image is pretty poor with it being the cultural equivalent of a teenage thug. Quite odd how slapping a badge on a pensioner's car is enough for the kids.


They also sell lawn mowers. Can't get more boring than that.


And which car company doesn't live off retro today? See the new MINI abomination, the rather cute new Fiat 500, the endless attempts by Jeep to redo the original, Toyota's FJ remake...



Most car companies are the opposite of Apple but I'd have said VW Group were the closest.


[QUOTE=desarc;1134293
i'm psyched that apple chose VW. i drive an audi TT and love the thing. decent power for a tiny little car, and all wheel drive to rock the northeast winters. it's design is bold and unique. very apple.[/quote]

Only in America would the TT be described as a tiny little car!

I'd have thought the old A2 would be the closest match personally. Aluminium and glass with a design not everyone liked and a bit more expensive than it should be. The 1.4 diesel A2 was also more economical than a Prius and only marginally more dirty with emissions too. It was truly innovative and sadly not as popular as Audi hoped. The A1 replacement is apparently going to be a lot more conventional.


I think this is a cultural thing. The traits you mention for Hondas are why only old people buy them in Europe. On the other hand VWs are marketed directly as being reliable and tasteful here in Europe compared to other cars. In the 80s there used to be adverts "If only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen" and the current Passat adverts show a psychiatrist choosing a Passat while his patients are having mid-life crisis with them choosing sports cars and Harleys.


If VW brought back the VW Microbus concept vehicle they did a few years back in conjunction with Apple it'd be an absolute killer product with all the mountain bikers I know. There's nothing in that market segment just now - just boring family MPVs and 4x4s that nobody wants (very uncool in Europe now unless you're a drug dealer) or things like the Caravelle campervan with about as much cool as corduroy.

For that matter, Honda Europe bringing the Element to Europe would probably have the same effect and throw off their fuddy-duddy image.

LOL and I have a friend who won't buy Japanese lenses because of the atrocities Japan committed in WWII. He only buys German.

Have you ever driven behind a semi in a snow storm?
I want infrared sensing of hot tail pipes on the vehicle in front of me.

Oh, this would be great if true.

Judging by all the chromey bits on the current VW's it seems that their design department is feeling clueless at the moment, severely lacking any kind of vision and creative leadership.

I remember reading an interview where Jonathan Ive was amazed about the big challenges of designing in the automotive industry as opposed to the relative easy world of designing computers. A car could be his next challenge after the iPhone.

I am rejecting Volvo because their logo resembles the male sex symbol: a circle with an arrow pointing upwards …

It is very juvenile from the swedes. And not done in Belgium.

Well, Johnny Ive might move on to greener pastures if his challenges at Apple are not steep enough, but I could see him being a consultant at this point, offering Apple's point of view for interior design and interface design.

I think VW and Apple teaming up is a great idea. I just purchased a VW GTI MKV and the car is phenemonal. It's got speed, handling, good-looks, and great design. If I had to make any changes it would be the software that came with the Navigation/Radio unit. It's not awful but could use Apple's touch. If I had to make a comparison, it's kind of like Palm software - not exactly Windoze but definitely not Apple.

I'm... floored. It's ... no.

Thanks for pointing out to that in particular, may I say, not so unimportant information,
that unfortunately everyone seemed to miss. Volkswagen Group is NOT Volkswagen.
Period.
Actually iIt's plain futile to discuss, whether Volkswagen (the cars) were the right cars for
Apple to implement their design visions and their technology. What we know is:
Apple executives talked to M. Winterkorn, who represents the VW Group. That's
it. And that's a good thing in my opinion. The car industrie is somewhat set in its
ways. Who else can stir the car industrie, other than Apple.

And yes I am German. I love beautiful objects. Negative people upset me.

cheers

Enough said.

God bless those Germans...

And if you were actually witness to the Holocaust I would have an issue with your intolerant ass for driving a car at such an old age.

As for your view we could go all the way back throughout Human History and hold a prejudice to present countries who had no control over the past since their present had yet to materialize.

They should be looking back. All the new stuff sucks.


As far as I'm concerned you guys can have the element and the rest of the Cubes of that matter. They might be considered sporty or something in the land of the hatch, but I think they're an eye sore.

With you there. I drive a 1990 Mini. A design which didn't really change from 1959 on until BMW completely got it wrong with the new MINI - a car that's too big and has less interior space than the original.



The Element couldn't really be described as sporty in the same way a hot hatch is but it certainly has utilitarian design 'charm'. I like the idea if not entirely the implementation. The other 'cubes' you have in the US also aren't available here but from the pictures I've seen are particularly odd looking for no purpose.

The new Mini is a gorgeous car and I really can't see the point mentioned above.

cheers

I'm wondering, if Apples R&D department possibly get an assignment to develop
a whole new car (kind of) or else if they "just" get commisioned to develop
*some* accessories.

No, many people sadly don't.

The original Mini was an exercise in inexpensive, simple, utilitarian design. It was revolutionary. It was economical. It was classless. But most of all it was SMALL.

The BMW MINI is none of those. It's a terrible pastiche in plastic and fake metal. They forgot what the original was about and instead created some kind of weird inflated luxury hatchback. Less space on the inside, less economical, almost twice the weight. Total crap. Sure, cars have to be bigger these days to fit safety devices in but that still hasn't stopped other manufacturers from creating small, efficient cars like Smart, Fiat, Peugeot, Citreon, Toyota...

To a true Mini fan, it's like the difference between an original Mac and a 24" iMac. Both apparently the same according to the badge on the front but not really the same.