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Volkswagen CEO: We're 'Not Afraid' of a Potential 'Apple Car'
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It’s important to note a lot of context regarding Tesla. Elon musk bought out patents for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the 2000s and sat on them as it is cheaper to build a electric car. Musk also knew how to market his product well by making it a niche, “high end” vehicle with limited production in order to create waiting lists thus giving the appearance of high demand. It worked very well. While the vehicles are well designed and appealing they are far from eco-conscious.
The truth of the matter is hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are the way forward if we want to stop pumping more carbon emissions into the atmosphere. In 2000s Ford and Toyota and Nissan and GM had hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on the road and numerous cities across the country. I lived in Los Angeles in the 2000s and drove a few friends’ hydrogen fuel cell cars. As hydrogen is obtained by running electric current through water in stations that use solar paneling in order to not tax power grids it is also much more energy efficient. Hydrogen is released and the chemical reaction with oxygen in the atmosphere through an aluminum membrane propels the vehicle. The only byproduct is water or water vapor. as they are not combustion engines they are much lighter in weight and allow for more safety and precautions. Tests have shown that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are much less combustible than traditional gasoline combustion engines.
in fact our military uses vehicles produced by GM in the Middle East such as Humvees. In the desert it allows for the collection of the water and water vapor inside the vehicle for passengers to drink. As a field agent for more than 10 years I have ridden inside such vehicles many times. If they were dangerous they would not be driving them through middle eastern territory.
I recall in the 2000s auto manufacturers pushed hard for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and pumped billions of dollars into movies and shows such as Iron Man and quantum of solace. If you watch those films you can see vehicles and advertisements in the background.
Elon musk approached many and claimed he would get hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on the road faster and bought many of the pattens out. Unfortunately his true intentions were to sell poorly built electric cars at a fraction of the cost with a higher price tag. Many who worked for him have spoken out about his practices and factories.
Electric cars do not benefit the The environment as many claim to believe. The amount of energy required to build the batteries and the fact they still need charging which only taxes power grids then the batteries cannot be recycled and are discarded produces a net gain over the years of use.
There’s a lot of information and if you’re interested I implore everyone to research hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and the history and the science. My uncle owns numerous dealerships in the tri-state area that my grandfather started and he used to sell teslas when they first launched but dealing with Musk and knowing how terribly built they are he cut ties. Eventually Elon musk had to build his own retail showrooms as dealerships begin cutting ties which is what led to their product deployment system.
hopefully more people will wake up and realize hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are the true way forward and the electric car will combust again. Until then if your truly environmentally conscience drive less and walk or bike more. German auto manufacturers tried to use clean diesel which is more environmentally conscious but that’s a whole other story. I had an Audi RS5 in Berlin that ran on clean diesel and I got more miles to the tank. Audi and others used systems that helped regulate fuel consumption and pollution. Unfortunately there were some issues with early deployment that were eventually resolved however competitors and the oil and gas industry used misinformation against Volkswagen/Audi Porsche in order to undermine their efforts as the vehicles ran on less gasoline. Those same individuals were involved in killing the electric car in the 90s and years later many of those pattens they sat on were also acquired by Elon musk for a song.
in the end, every little bit counts and if electric vehicles help lessen carbon output until a better option comes along such as main stream production and use of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles then great, but Musk is not the environmentalist many praise him as being.
As for Apple, giving into the auto industry is going to take a lot more than producing an electric car with another auto manufacturer. This is not like the Apple Watch or electronics. Apple has to deal with production and a myriad of safety and compliance regulations in numerous nations as it varies greatly. That’s one major hurdle they will have to overcome and I cannot see partnering with an existing auto manufacturers resolving that.
Yet I am all for more trying to change a very important market. If Apple can do it I am behind them 100%.
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Everything apl has ever made has been a variation of a theme - computing device. Except for their earphones.
Making a car, especially a self driving car, is completely out of their league
Making a car, especially a self driving car, is completely out of their league
Yes?
Apple Watch won’t kill the luxury segment, but it has absolutely been eating into it.
Seems like a pretty reasonable response that doesn't warrant the headline/article. I figured as much
Did anyone else search for this topic?
The Apple electric car project (codenamed "Titan") is an electric car project undergoing research and development by Apple Inc. Apple has yet to openly discuss any of its self-driving research, but around 5,000 employees were reported to be working on the project as of 2018. In May 2018, Apple reportedly partnered with Volkswagen to produce an autonomous employee shuttle van based on the T6 Transporter commercial vehicle platform. In August 2018, the BBC reported that Apple had 66 road-registered driverless cars, with 111 drivers registered to operate those cars. - Wikipedia
The Apple electric car project (codenamed "Titan") is an electric car project undergoing research and development by Apple Inc. Apple has yet to openly discuss any of its self-driving research, but around 5,000 employees were reported to be working on the project as of 2018. In May 2018, Apple reportedly partnered with Volkswagen to produce an autonomous employee shuttle van based on the T6 Transporter commercial vehicle platform. In August 2018, the BBC reported that Apple had 66 road-registered driverless cars, with 111 drivers registered to operate those cars. - Wikipedia
<insert Steve Balmer laughing gif here>
They should be afraid of a new entrant that has a history of taking a large percentage of an industry’s profit. Apple is rarely the market share leader, but often the profit share leader.
Given that Tesla did not exist and that every person who purchased a Tesla did not do so in addition to what else they were going to buy, they did take share from VW.
That may be true, but it does not change that they should be concerned about a well financed competitor with a well respected brand planning to enter their market.
It would be smartest to say nothing, but if he felt he had to say something it should have been a statement like: We always look forward to see what other competitors (and potential competitors) do and feel we are well positioned to respond if a challenge actually arises.
Does not give them credit, not does it dismiss them out of hand. Just acknowledges that they might matter, just as others might.
Thanks for this. It is a nuanced response from VW, and kind of shows that the headlines are exaggerating his stance. They clearly take Apple seriously, but they think it will take a while for a new competitor to establish a foothold. Look how long it took Tesla!
TOYOTA will arrive with the Solid State Battery Technology End 2021 / Beginning 2022, which will show how technically outdated all the electric cars today are. Less weight, more energy density. The SSB could be even integrated as structural element of the vehicle. It could happen, that a Toyota E-Car weighs even less than its gasoline counterpart.
Looked at the VW electric cars recently. Can't say they seem to be much wrong with them spec wise. Alright, I am old fashioned, it should take be from point A to B, and it does not need to order a Pizza on the way. Oh and by the way I like to steer the thingy. Why are people so keen on autopilot? It is fun to drive. When we have completely autonomous cars so you can legally sleep or work, then it might be interesting.
A car is a complex mechanical object. Tesla and Musk has solid grounds in mechanical engineering as do VW. Apple? Keyboard anyone? Battery is largely determined by chemistry and they all seem to be going in the same direction. The car manufacturer that have exclusive rights to a battery with 2X performance at the same price point will win.
An iPhone is only a more powerful mobile phone. Chips, battery and OS. Just like Nokias before. That has been Apple playing field for a long time.
A car is a complex mechanical object. Tesla and Musk has solid grounds in mechanical engineering as do VW. Apple? Keyboard anyone? Battery is largely determined by chemistry and they all seem to be going in the same direction. The car manufacturer that have exclusive rights to a battery with 2X performance at the same price point will win.
An iPhone is only a more powerful mobile phone. Chips, battery and OS. Just like Nokias before. That has been Apple playing field for a long time.
Cars are a lot more complex than phones so I’m not sure it’s right to keep harping on about “Nokia said this, blackberry said that”.
I wonder if, with Apple being so strong on privacy, the Apple Car will have completely one-way, opaque tinted windows 🤓
To be fair this forum was full of people hailing the death of Spotify when Apple Music launched. Its seems to be taking a long time.
You are right of course. However, I simply think Apple Watches are clumsy. What I really like is the Apple watch in the form of my slick Omega Seamaster in gold and titanium from the 90:th. I am not sure Apple watch is the reason for the decline, the iPhone is.
That's when you know how much power Apple has. So much so that even the automotive industry feels the need to make public statements saying they aren't "Afraid" of what Apple may bring to the industry. No product has even made it to market nor has a prototype been made public and car companies are speaking out.
Hello VW when you make statements saying you're not afraid, you really are! 😂
Hello VW when you make statements saying you're not afraid, you really are! 😂
That's because they are good at selling their stock. Not because they sell more cars. Actually, as of today, VW's electric cars, which are newer, are the most successful in Europe, the problem being, if VW had the same ratios as TSLA, then it would be worth far more than Germany's GDP. Those kinds of meme valuations only exist elsewhere, not in good old Europe. Thanks God. We don't need irrational bubbles.
I want my CEO to be very afraid at all times of all competition. I want him/her head on a swivel stick looking around at the competition....a CEO that is not afraid won’t be CEO for long....
Yeah that what it sounds like you want it to be. Then came along a company called Tesla who walked in the middle of a very crowded automotive industry and got people to buy $100K cars. I absolutely believe once Apple brings a car to market that it will be successful. I know people here hate Apple so much they hope it not be to be true, but it will be true. 😊