I guess I will never buy an Apple Car then. Buah ha ha ha, Hyundai 🤣😂🤣
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Negotiating with Hyundai for Apple Car Production [Updated x2]
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
There's a 0% chance this will work out well for Apple. Of all brands, I'd never partner with Hyundai to make me a car. I wouldn't want to pay the Apple Tax on a rebranded Hyundai. If they partnered with Toyota or Honda, I'd be much more willing to fork that over (not that I could afford an Apple Car in the first place, but still).
I had a 2005 Hyundai Accent and it was an absolute lemon and the company gave me the runaround. I will never support them again — sorry Tim, find another company!
Maybe they're partnering on the first car or two... then Apple will branch off on their own.
Isn't that what Tesla did? The first Roadster was based on a Lotus Elise... then Tesla started making their own Models?
I think the Apple Car is gonna be something I skip, unless they actually improve car fundamentals. Apple products usually take existing tech and make it better in lot of ways, often profoundly. So I would expect the same in a car. Apple needs to fix wind/road noise there's gotta be more they could think of compared to others simply adding thicker glass... there's so many little annoyances with any car and driving that I think Apple should look at and say how can we change the experience of driving a car....and more then just oh autopilot I mean every aspect of a car, the comfort, noise level, audio, interior climate control system....you know and with this timeline of 5+ years out I wonder if Apple is trying to do exactly that.
No they'd need a manufacturer who will be around in 5 years.
Just buy Mazda and make me an iMiata Pro
What? They’ve been making the Genesis branded cars for years now. I own a G70 it’s a fantastic luxury car at a great price. They’ve been selling luxury cars to the Korean market since before they sold cars in America.
I know you're allergic to American workers but you'd better build the car here. Timmy
If Apple did make a car, it makes sense to work with a company that has the infrastructure in place. Thats the reason Tesla is considering a merger with another car company. Getting your Tesla looked at for even minor things has caused concerns from some.
Not just the manufacturing, having a local dealer trained and with parts and parts warehouses sense. Heck Apple has enough cash on hand to just buy a car company and not sweat it, but it also brings way too much baggage and liabilities.
Having said that, i think it would be better if Apple went at it alone in terms of showrooms/service centers. BMW has just over 300 showrooms in the US and Tesla less than half of that, so it’s not as daunting as i first imagined for Apple.
Not just the manufacturing, having a local dealer trained and with parts and parts warehouses sense. Heck Apple has enough cash on hand to just buy a car company and not sweat it, but it also brings way too much baggage and liabilities.
Having said that, i think it would be better if Apple went at it alone in terms of showrooms/service centers. BMW has just over 300 showrooms in the US and Tesla less than half of that, so it’s not as daunting as i first imagined for Apple.
Last edited:
Except that Hyundai is a huge and very well-run company with many different lines. One of those is Genesis, which auto reviewers absolutely love. I actually wondered if Hyundai might be Apple's partner for this, because they are one of only a few manufacturers who essentially could create a division around servicing Apple's needs.
You're already paying Apple's premium markup for rebranded Foxconns.
That's not a CarPlay issue -- that's an issue with your car's implementation of CarPlay. The CarPlay spec doesn't require it to take over all audio functions when it is active, but some manufacturers configure it that way.
Foxconn is an OEM. They make a lot of things for other companies to slap their name on. You got a beef with Apple, or a beef with OEM's?
This. Also, negotiating with all the companies will give them valuable competitive information (for example, which companies have the most capacity and/or can produce in a fast or cost efficient manner relative to others).
At least then their cars would be as reliable as their MacBooks made after 2015.
I ran into that with a cell phone I owned decades ago. I finally, from the manufacturer, got the news that the reseller of that model phone 'chose to disable that function'. Oh, really? How could you let them do that? 'Resellers negotiate contract with us to outfit the phones they supply to their users in the way they want. They pay a fee to allow for certain functions to be disabled by us prior to shipping. Disabled features can not be enabled by the consumer. It is at the discretion of the reseller.' Oh, really... So, one of the better functions of the phone is disabled, and because they paid you to cripple the phone, you DID IT? And if I lived in Europe, I would have a phone with that feature enabled? Wow... Thanks. I hope they paid a lot for that. Good grief...
That was what maid me wonder why Apple signed an exclusive agreement with AT&T for the first iPhone. AT&T was the reseller that crippled the damn phone I had!!!
Other than Tesla, I feel like Volkswagen might be a good fit for Apple to work with to make an Apple car.
Elon supposedly asked Apple at some point to at least invest and perhaps join forces, but I believe he didn't even get a response from the Cook ie Monster. Seems like an odd business decision by Apple but hey Tesla still has some major QC issues so maybe that's why Apple wasn't interested or maybe they just want to compete against Tesla. I mean Apple definitely has the bank to do so.
I guess the good thing is if they don't end up pairing up, which seems highly unlikely at this point, they should end up driving each other to make better vehicles and hopefully better prices for consumers to buy into electric vehicles as their daily drivers. But an Apple tesla colab would have made a lot people drool. Without actual data I'm just going to hazard a guess that Tesla has a high percentage of owner that love
products and vice versa.
Elon supposedly asked Apple at some point to at least invest and perhaps join forces, but I believe he didn't even get a response from the Cook ie Monster. Seems like an odd business decision by Apple but hey Tesla still has some major QC issues so maybe that's why Apple wasn't interested or maybe they just want to compete against Tesla. I mean Apple definitely has the bank to do so.
I guess the good thing is if they don't end up pairing up, which seems highly unlikely at this point, they should end up driving each other to make better vehicles and hopefully better prices for consumers to buy into electric vehicles as their daily drivers. But an Apple tesla colab would have made a lot people drool. Without actual data I'm just going to hazard a guess that Tesla has a high percentage of owner that love
products and vice versa.I have a 2019 Kia Stinger GT2. I love it. I give Kia/Hyundai/Genesis high praise for the strides they made over the last decade. I will be the first to admit that their dealership network in the US leaves a lot to be desired. However, they make quality (as good or better than many brands) and good looking cars now.
They are only perceived to be cheap because of the past. In Korea, Hyundai Motor Group has much more vertical integration (they supply their own steel etc.) than GM for example. Hence, they can get their prices down (barring any sort of tariffs or unfavorable currency exchange rates).
Regardless if it is Hyundai that helps Apple manufacture their car. The fact that Hyundai is admitting that they are in discussions with Apple basically proves that Apple is serious about building a car. That is the most exciting part. Before, I thought it did not make much sense.
They are only perceived to be cheap because of the past. In Korea, Hyundai Motor Group has much more vertical integration (they supply their own steel etc.) than GM for example. Hence, they can get their prices down (barring any sort of tariffs or unfavorable currency exchange rates).
Regardless if it is Hyundai that helps Apple manufacture their car. The fact that Hyundai is admitting that they are in discussions with Apple basically proves that Apple is serious about building a car. That is the most exciting part. Before, I thought it did not make much sense.
Last edited: