Chinese Automakers Shocked at Apple's Decision to Cancel Car Project

[MacRumors]

Apple's decision to cancel its electric vehicle project has surprised ambitious new Chinese automakers like Xiaomi, the South China Morning Post reports.

Yesterday, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman revealed that after a decade of work and millions of dollars in development costs Apple has canceled its plans to bring an EV to market, moving many of the 2,000 staff working on the project to generative AI instead. The decision has come as a surprise to new tech-focused Chinese EV brands like Xiaomi, Li Auto, and Xpeng, who saw a future Apple car as one of their main rivals.

Xiaomi is one of China's biggest electronics companies and is best known for its line of smartphones. The company unveiled its first EV, the SU7, late last year and it is set to go on sale after further testing. The project required over $1.4 billion in development and over 3,400 engineers.

Founder and chairman Lei Jun today posted on Weibo that he was "very shocked" by the news of Apple's decision to cancel its EV. He added that he "knows deeply how difficult it is to make cars," but Xiaomi has made an "unshakeable strategic choice" to move into EVs. He Xiaopeng, chairman of Chinese EV maker Xpeng, expressed similar disbelief that Apple is abandoning its car plans.

Li Xiang, CEO of Beijing-based EV maker Li Auto, remarked on Weibo that Apple's decision to shift emphasis from EVs to AI was "absolutely right." "AI will become the top-level entrance for all devices, services, applications and transactions, in which Apple should stay on top," he added.

Chinese brands possess a rapidly growing proportion of global EV sales. Last year, China's BYD overtook Tesla as the world's top EV manufacturer.

Article Link: Chinese Automakers Shocked at Apple's Decision to Cancel Car Project

 

[McWetty]

“Shocked”… haha. Because you know, EV.

I’ll see myself out.

 

[klasma]

The Surprised Pikachu meme will now be replaced by the Shocked Chinese Automakers meme.


Maybe @vegetassj4 will whip up a picture.

 

[Naraxus]

Why shocked? So they can't steal the design & ip like they steal every other bit of IP from Apple?

 

[Armada2]

Why shocked? So they can't steal the design & ip like they steal every other bit of IP from Apple?

Was about to say that! "Shocked" = 1 less product to copy 😂

 

[erikkfi]

I'm disappointed too. I don't really understand why the car has to be autonomous in order for Apple to make it. Another American EV from a company with a CEO who isn't a lunatic jerk would be very welcome.

 

[sunapple]

I love cars but I don’t see the appeal of starting a new brand from scratch to compete in the hardest possible segment. Expensive to develop, hard to manufacture, competition is being subsidized by foreign governments. Xiaomi has a clear advantage there.

 

[one more]

Why shocked? So they can't steal the design & ip like they steal every other bit of IP from Apple?

Maybe “surprised” would be a better word. They do not need to steal much in this field, as the Chinese practically already dominate the EV market. At least here in Europe the Chinese automakers are perceived as a major threat to both Tesla and European EV makers, as the Chinese can easily undercut both on prices.

 

[LightProtector]

It's kind of hard to describe, but I was hoping Apple would eventually release it. More competition is great and I have always wanted to see what an Apple car would look like.

 

[ChrisA]

The problem with the EV market is that it will be very price-sensitive. Not enough people want $100K cars.

 

[mapsdotapp]

Apple faked them out with rumors and now they’re left holding the bag on a dead-end product line that a tech company has no business in pursuing. They got Cooked.

 

[deepspacecowboy]

The Apple Car never made sense. Cars are low-margin products, something Apple doesn't do. Cars require a lot of service and support infrastructure, all of which Apple would have either needed to build out or acquire by buying an established car company.

And what was Apple really going to bring to the table? Looking at their other product lines, it's clear that the Apple "secret sauce" isn't nearly the differentiator it was in the past. Other companies have largely caught up with Apple. Android phones easily go toe to toe with the iPhone these days, many offering more compelling features. While Vision Pro is certainly stuffed with all sorts of high end components, it's not that much better than a Quest at 1/7th the price. Apple's home audio products are quite boring and basic compared to Sonos and other more thoughtful and comprehensive home audio solutions.

In many ways Apple is coasting these days. Their OSes, ecosystem, and overall user experience are still arguably better than the competition, but Apple products no longer stand head and shoulders above their competitors. I'm glad they realized the car was a fool's errand and stopped burning cash on something that was sure to be nothing more than a money pit for them.

 

[Surf Monkey]

The problem with the EV market is that it will be very price-sensitive. Not enough people want $100K cars.

That won’t be the case for long. All the major manufacturers are in the game now. Economies of scale will kick in and EVs will come down in price significantly.

 

[one more]

The problem with the EV market is that it will be very price-sensitive. Not enough people want $100K cars.

This is true. Whereas the first wave of EVs could benefit from the coolness and novelty factor, justifying their higher costs vs the petrol analogues, nowadays the EV makers are trying to capture the lower segment of the market, aiming for starting prices for new EVs at about 25.000-30.000€.

 

[Surf Monkey]

The Apple Car never made sense. Cars are low-margin products, something Apple doesn't do. Cars require a lot of service and support infrastructure, all of which Apple would have either needed to build out or acquire by buying an established car company.

And what was Apple really going to bring to the table? Looking at their other product lines, it's clear that the Apple "secret sauce" isn't nearly the differentiator it was in the past. Other companies have largely caught up with Apple. Android phones easily go toe to toe with the iPhone these days, many offering more compelling features. While Vision Pro is certainly stuffed with all sorts of high end components, it's not that much better than a Quest at 1/7th the price. Apple's home audio products are quite boring and basic compared to Sonos and other more thoughtful and comprehensive home audio solutions.

In many ways Apple is coasting these days. Their OSes, ecosystem, and overall user experience are still arguably better than the competition, but Apple products no longer stand head and shoulders above their competitors. I'm glad they realized the car was a fool's errand and stopped burning cash on something that was sure to be nothing more than a money pit for them.

Apple has been coasting since Cook fired Scott Forestall and drove Ive away. It has no hope of a rebound until Cook leaves. He’s Scully 2.0 and the Vision Message Pad proves it.

 

[nikhsub1]

The problem with EVs in general are the batteries, the charge time and the charging infrastructure. We need much better battery tech where cars can go 500+ miles on an 80% charge, charge from almost empty to 80% in 10 mins and WAYYYYYYY more charging infrastructure. For now, EVs are good for large cities, that's really about it IMO.

 

[Algr]

Why shocked? So they can't steal the design & ip like they steal every other bit of IP from Apple?

They currently build cars. They are shocked that Apple can't. A company that can't put two ports on an iPad never had any business trying to build a car. Apple never had anything useful to bring to the table.

 

[555gallardo]

I’m almost sure the news shocked both chinese automakers as well as protective case manufacturers.

 

[wonderings]

Maybe Apple just realized they did not have anything new to bring to the game. As we all know Apple did not invent the smart phone, or tablet, among other things. What they did really really well was made them easy and powerful to use. They literally turned the market upside down and had everyone chasing for a long time. With self driving cards and EV's, what is Apple really going to bring to the table that won't get lost in a sea of other super tech laden cars.

 

[GumaRodak]

I dont understand the attention of china ev cars. I have been chceking the prices of BYD cars here in EU, in DE. I have a feeling that the prices are on levele like other companies so if incan choose BYD or VW i would choose the VW

 

[thewill586]

The Chinese will turn the EV market, where they are able to sell, into a price war. EV growth is limited going forward because most drivers don’t have chargers at home and find it a hassle to charge outside the home.

 

[Surf Monkey]

They currently build cars. They are shocked that Apple can't. A company that can't put two ports on an iPad never had any business trying to build a car. Apple never had anything useful to bring to the table.

Sadly, this appears to be true. What Apple would have brought to the table was a comprehensive, ecosystem integrated, software approach to the car experience. But since they jettisoned all their design leads and replaced them with the COO I suppose they don’t really have the capability to do that anymore.

 

[gaximus]

The problem with EVs in general are the batteries, the charge time and the charging infrastructure. We need much better battery tech where cars can go 500+ miles on an 80% charge, charge from almost empty to 80% in 10 mins and WAYYYYYYY more charging infrastructure. For now, EVs are good for large cities, that's really about it IMO.

The problem with EV is that people still think they are suppose to charge at charging station like they do with gas station. EVs are meant to be charged at home, overnight, then you wakeup with a car fully charged, ready to go with 200+ miles everyday, way more than the average person needs. The Charging infrastructure is only needed for road trips, which are rare for most people. Once people understand that, then EVs will be good for anyone driving less than 200 miles a day.

 

[ThatGuyInLa]

He has to be nervous. Covering his rear. Apple killing their car project sends a HUGE signal to all.

 

[Surf Monkey]

The problem with EV is that people still think they are suppose to charge at charging station like they do with gas station. EVs are meant to be charged at home, overnight, then you wakeup with a car fully charged, ready to go with 200+ miles everyday, way more than the average person needs. The Charging infrastructure is only needed for road trips, which are rare for most people. Once people understand that, then EVs will be good for anyone driving less than 200 miles a day.

Swapping batteries at a service station when they run down would be a better solution.