I still think Apple should purchase McLaren for its current value of 2.6 billion (or just pair up with them.) McLaren could do well with a "cheaper" car in its inventory. I think McLaren's current low end car is $200,000. Apple's car could cost $99,000 and that would be a good fit. As far as I can tell, McLaren is working on electric vehicles but is not working on autonomous vehicles. Apple can provide the autonomy.
Maybe the first car could be called the "McLarentosh."
Wtf?
Where is McLaren's competency in mass producing vehicles on the scale Apple would want? They're a boutique shop who make <10k cars a year, a large part of it by hand, which is not even remotely close to what Apple needs.
Did you post this solely to make that rubbish name joke?
Joke aside he is serious. But it is the typical "Apple is so rich they can just buy themselves into any market they want" mentality ... while being blissfully unaware that this approach rarely works. The whole "Apple should buy Nintendo" thing was popular a little while ago. There were also "Apple should buy Netflix" claims prior to their launching Apple TV+, "Apple should buy Spotify", "Apple should buy ARM Holdings" etc. Even before Elizabeth Warren - and prior to that Hillary Clinton losing - triggered the antitrust mania, people should ask themselves how often this actually works. What did Apple actually get out of buying Beats, for example? No one even talks about that brand anymore.
Billions of dollars in profits. This has been discussed at length. It's not a hot topic, because it's old news.
Honda and Mazda said they could not comment on the matter, while Mitsubishi asserted claims that Apple is engaging with Japanese automotive companies were false. Nissan declined to comment.
According to equity analyst Mio Kato, Nissan is "the most likely candidate to be in serious discussions with Apple" thanks to spare production capacity in the U.S., the report says.
"Apple Car" rumors have accelerated over the past few weeks, with January reports in the U.S. and South Korea tipping advanced talks with Hyundai. The South Korean automaker initially confirmed it was in discussions to produce the vehicle before walking those statements back.
Hyundai's PR faux pas reportedly contributed to a breakdown in the dealmaking process. The company in a regulatory filing on Monday said it is "not having talks with Apple about developing self-driving cars," but noted high interest in its EV platform.
Please read between the lines. (Note: this is information provided in previous columns.
1. Hyundai/Kia were initially thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Apple because it would be a shot in the arm to their current third rate reputation (not luxury like BMW/Mercedes/Lexus, not general like Ford/GM/Volkswagen/Toyota/Honda but a "budget" brand that only gained fraction outside their home market by offering significantly better warranty terms than everyone else in the industry) by getting to partner with a global premium brand.
2. That is ... until Hyundai/Kia saw that the actual terms of the deal would neither improve their reputation or even make them very much money. Instead - as in the case of Apple's other products - no one but industry insiders and enthusiasts would have any idea that these cars are actually manufactured by Hyundai/Kia because they would be forbidden from telling anyone this in their marketing campaigns. They would not be allowed to reuse anything that goes into the Apple Car to improve their own products to give them a leg up on Ford, Toyota etc. And they would be required to accept the same very low margins that Apple demands of all their partners and suppliers.
3. However, they couldn't "turn Apple down" because it looks very bad. How is a third rate car manufacturer going to turn down a golden ticket offered to them by Apple to ride the royal carriage to the big time? That the golden ticket is actually made of lead and the royal carriage is actually a pumpkin would have been entirely ignored by both the media and any Daniel Loeb-type activist investors - both infamous for their love of Apple - who would have demanded and gotten their CEO fired (as Loeb did Intel's).
4. So Hyundai/Kia "leak" the information, and in the process make it clear to Apple that they aren't interested. That allows Apple to terminate the deal, which is in the interests of both parties. Apple doesn't take the hit from being turned down by a budget car manufacturer, and the budget car manufacturer doesn't suffer blowback from all those enraged iPhone fans.
What does this mean going forward? Simple: while Nissan and the other Japanese manufacturers have interest in making an Apple Car now - just as Hyundai/Kia did - it is not certain that they will retain that interest once Apple offers them the same terms that Hyundai/Kia rejected. Also, whether Apple would be interested in all of these car manufacturers is debatable. Apple doesn't choose suppliers that they have to help build from the ground up. Apple chooses entities that have their own expertise to contribute to the product so that Apple doesn't have to put in the time/money/effort to do it all themselves. As I have mentioned before, Apple partners with Samsung and Qualcomm for iPhone and iPad components because they were already the best at making them before Apple hired them. Ditto Foxconn: they were the leading white box manufacturer even before Apple. So unless this Japanese manufacturer has at least something going on with electric or autonomous vehicles to give them a level of expertise that keeps Apple from having to design the whole thing from scratch - including the platforms and the manufacturing processes - Apple won't be interested.
So if Nissan doesn't have their own EV or AV division to partner with Apple, then that will pretty much eliminate any desire to do a deal on Apple's part. Similarly, once Nissan finds out that Apple is not going to license or share IP or know-how with Nissan to help Nissan build cars that will compete with the Apple Car - or as it were the same companies that Apple wants to steal market share from - they are quickly going to lose interest as well.
The auto industry is not the electronics industry. If Apple wants an established company to help them manufacture cars at the speed, quality and scale that they need, they are going to have to change their pitch. And when they do then the best partner for them will be their first choice to begin with: Kia. Hopefully they will realize that as quickly as possible. Otherwise, we may well see a Kia (or Hyundai) Samsung Car - or Google Car - make it to market before the Apple Car does.
1. Third-rate reputation? I'm not sure where you've been, but Hyundai and Kia are doing extremely well. They are not third rate or even second rate any longer. I've had three Hyundais and 1 Kia since 2011. They are every bit as good as Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Ford. They are superior to GM products. And yes, I've owned nearly all of those other makes. As for luxury, Hyundai has Genesis. Put a Genesis against Lexus and Infiniti...it compares well.
2. Most of that is probably true, though their "reputation" is again not the issue.
3. There you go again. "Third rate." They can absolutely turn Apple down. Hyundai is a successful automaker.
4. Hyundai not only has Genesis, but several other offerings that are not "budget." The Palisades 8 passenger SUV starts at $32K and is $45K in limited trim. It's near the top in terms of ratings of SUVs. They no longer have a full sized Sedan (the Azera), but I owned two of those, and they were certainly not "budget."
5. Hyundai and Kia are essentially the same company. And Kia is another company that has come a long way.
As for Apple, we have no idea if they need to "change their pitch." We don't even know if anything we've heard is actually true. I doubt they are worried about your expert opinion on the matter.
I still think Apple should purchase McLaren for its current value of 2.6 billion (or just pair up with them.) McLaren could do well with a "cheaper" car in its inventory. I think McLaren's current low end car is $200,000. Apple's car could cost $99,000 and that would be a good fit. As far as I can tell, McLaren is working on electric vehicles but is not working on autonomous vehicles. Apple can provide the autonomy.
Maybe the first car could be called the "McLarentosh."
Wtf?
Where is McLaren's competency in mass producing vehicles on the scale Apple would want? They're a boutique shop who make <10k cars a year, a large part of it by hand, which is not even remotely close to what Apple needs.
Did you post this solely to make that rubbish name joke?
I can’t speak to McLaren’s competence specifically. But I think you would be surprised with what similar sized “exoticcar” companies are capable of designing for mass production. These guys aren’t dummies and they have all the tools needed to perform finite element analyses for part/system robustness and durability. And they sure as hell know how to make stuff economically. Would they be the best guys to design factory tooling? Probably not. But I wouldn’t be so dismissive of their talents in designing for mass production.
For such a major initiative, I cannot see Apple partnering with any Japanese based car company other than Toyota or Honda, as they each have industry leading technical capabilities, which Apple may likely require. Nissan, Mazda and Mitsubishi are 2nd tier, at best.
as for potential culture clashing ... see the movie Gung Ho, starring Michael Keaton
I would absolutely not include Nissan in the second tier list. Nissan is on or nearly on par with Toyota and Honda in terms of quality, technical advancement and style. You realize that they have their Infiniti brand? I've owned two Nissans and they compare favorably in my view with Toyota (which I've also owned). They are a step ahead of Hyundai and Kia (both of which I've also owned).
I've had the opposite experience. I've owned 4 x new Toyotas (still own a 2012 Prius), and a bought new, 2016 Nissan Leaf (still own, in spite of the build quality & issues). The build quality of the Nissan Leaf is total crap compared to ANY of the 4 x new Toyota. The Nissan Leaf was built in Nashville, TN.
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VW, Audi, Porsche I can see, but Nissan I don’t think so.
I figured Acura, Lexus or Infiniti would be a better fit for Apple than Hyundai. Guess who owns Infiniti.
2. Most of that is probably true, though their "reputation" is again not the issue.
3. There you go again. "Third rate." They can absolutely turn Apple down. Hyundai is a successful automaker.
4. Hyundai not only has Genesis, but several other offerings that are not "budget." The Palisades 8 passenger SUV starts at $32K and is $45K in limited trim. It's near the top in terms of ratings of SUVs. They no longer have a full sized Sedan (the Azera), but I owned two of those, and they were certainly not "budget."
5. Hyundai and Kia are essentially the same company. And Kia is another company that has come a long way.
As for Apple, we have no idea if they need to "change their pitch." We don't even know if anything we've heard is actually true. I doubt they are worried about your expert opinion on the matter.
Lexus=Toyota
Infinity=Nissan
Genesis-Hyundai
The former are all just brands of the parent companies. Their vehicles are often built on the exact same platforms.
Apple does not allow speculation orom companies about potential future product.
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