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Former GM CEO on Apple Car: 'They Have No Idea What They're Getting Into'

Nicky G said:
LOL laughably reminiscent of what phone company execs said ahead of the iPhone. And that too was a low margin business -- back then.



And wow, like, they make cars out of STEEL?! Holy crap! If only Apple, say, I dunno -- had some experience pioneering manufacturing techniques around the use of metal, say, I dunno, aluminum...



:rolleyes:
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Pioneering technologies in aluminum? How so?
 
I would have agreed with this old school car guy before the Tesla was named the safest car of all time. And not just a safe but fun to drive. Car and Driver, Motor Week, etc are all combustion engine fetishists and they've been swooning over the performance.

And Elon Musk has recently open sourced a ton of patents that Apple could very well pillaging (fairly and legally as Musk intended).

Driverless cars (at least for the freeway) are coming... fast. And that means there will be potential media and app consumers looking for something to do for hours a day, 5 days a week. Apple could be building a vehicle, literally, to deliver more content and apps. I'd almost, almost put good money on this happening and them pulling it off.

Enduro
Sent from my MacBook Air... from Detroit
 
"We take steel, raw steel, and turn it into car. They have no idea what they're getting into if they get into that."

ha.

ok.



i mean, guy has to say /something/ i guess, he's a car guy... but.. that sounds like someone talking for the sake of talking, not because he has anything to say.
 
Skoal said:
Pioneering technologies in aluminum? How so?
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Weld free pressed aluminum forms. This isn't my area o' expertise but I recall seeing a video on how Apple holds many patents in this arena and aluminum has just been rolled out in the frames of heavy duty Ford trucks. That knowledge of aluminum, and an exclusive right to make it thin and strong, would be very valuable in reducing weight and improving economy.
 
Skoal said:
Pioneering technologies in aluminum? How so?
Click to expand...
Not that I think this car rumor holds any weight, but Apple's friction stir welding technique is probably the most precise in the world that's at mass manufacturing scale. That could come in handy quite nicely across a wide range of size in the future. ;)
 
Gm is the gas car biz mainly.

Tesla and apple will be in the exclusively electric car business...so when the ceo talks about the car business..he talking in the past..the future car business will have more tech in them and apple knows it.
 
Apple doesn't and most times in all honesty invent, yet they do "evolve" our technologies like no one else. So I wouldn't put anything past them to help the car become everything it should be.
 
h4ck said:
"We take steel, raw steel, and turn it into car. They have no idea what they're getting into if they get into that."

ha.

ok.



i mean, guy has to say /something/ i guess, he's a car guy... but.. that sounds like someone talking for the sake of talking, not because he has anything to say.
Click to expand...

It's a guy talking because someone asked him a question and wanted to hear his thoughts on the possibilities and viability of such an endeavor.

Quite different from say your post where you offered no insight or original thought and no one asked.

Big difference.

He didn't go seek out someone to ramble to. They came and asked him his thoughts as people often do in daily life. He answered in a thoughtful way that actually would be helpful if someone were to be considering such a move. This is something that would be beneficial to hear.

Now, if he was meaning to be discouraging, he'd have simply laughed and said its impossible and walked away.
 
Hahaha. I'd have taken this from any serious car manufacturer with style and legacy. Not from GM—the losers of the car industry.
 
the auto companies (especially the giant, incompetent, domestic ones like GM) are ******** their pants in fear of Apple making a car. It's gonna completely run them out of business.
 
Tcasey said:
Gm is the gas car biz mainly.

Tesla and apple will be in the exclusively electric car business...so when the ceo talks about the car business..he talking in the past..the future car business will have more tech in them and apple knows it.
Click to expand...
So the Volt and Bolt are not electric cars...
 
I wonder where in China will the first apple car manufacturing plant be built? .......(sarcasm off)
 
"Siri, take me to the nearest grocery store."

(A few minutes go by)

Wait, why are we at the strip club?

AAARGGGHHH....Apple MAPS!

"Siri, since when is a grocery store a strip club?"

"When you put melons on your grocery list in Notes, I thought we could shop here"

Welcome to Apple Car.
 
It's not that they couldn't make cars. It's why would you bother?
If they're thinking of making self driving vehicles then maybe that industry is completely different to what is the current car industry. If that's the case then maybe it's something that they can pioneer.

If it's the current car industry then I don't get the point. When Apple went into phones the big difference was that phones were becoming computers. So yes Nokia had maybe 15 yrs of experience making phones but apple had been making computers since the late 70's. Apple was (and still is) in a prime position to make anything that is really a computer underneath, wether that be smart watches or music players. Apple after all was one of the first and only remaining computer / software companies.

Coming into the car industry is different. Not because you can find a bunch of people to build cars but because what value can you add that established companies in the field can't give? To go to the high end your competing with designers from Porsche, Mercedes, Volkwagen, Audi etc...many associated designers like pininfarina. Apple aren't better than those guys at designing things. Never mind the technology that those guys pioneer and test on race circuits or with formula 1 every year.

Apple may have 35 yrs in Building computers but those guys have nearly a 100 yrs in doing this stuff. So even forgetting the labour and safety costs can you even add value to modern car?

In fact, Tesla is the only car company I've heard of in the last 40 yrs in the high end who've got any traction whatsoever. Apple would be better off investing in Tesla and partnering with an apple tesla brand of they are serious. Making cars is not a side project for any company. It's going to be the main deal if you want any success.

I suppose you never say never, but it really looks unlikely to me.
 
jtrenda33 said:
Tomorrow's headline: Samsung Thinking About Making a Car
Click to expand...

Samsung Techwin (the name of Samsungs military branch) makes tanks, jets, howitzers, etc. next time at least TRY to look something up before playing the 'Samsung sucks - I wanna be an apple fanboy!' Game....
 
"We take steel, raw steel, and turn it into car. :confused:

Apple takes raw Aluminium and turning into phones.... what are you taking about ? Apple prob have the best manufacture setup around. Do you think they go into a new area with out doing there homework? well its in the title .... Former GM CEO.....
 
i really cant see how Apple can make a car better than some Mercedes, BMW, Audi. They just cant, it's that simple. If they're really getting into this business they sure must have a big ego.
 
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