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Volkswagen CEO: We're 'Not Afraid' of a Potential 'Apple Car'

Maconplasma said:
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. 😊
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they will be very successful. person who thinks 1% has no experience in industry....just giving a very uneducated opinion.
 
nsayer said:
I don't believe him.

If you aren't afraid of your competition, you don't talk about them publicly. This is VW glomming onto the press that Apple gets. It's a lot like Anthony Jesselnik's routine about "thoughts and prayers." It's really just saying, "don't forget about me."
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He was literally asked directly about Apple.
 
Rob_2811 said:
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.
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To be fair, this forum was full of people stating the Apple Watch would be a failure. The question is not ever about market share, but about profit share and Apple is good at taking an outsized portion of their market’s profit.
 
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Seanm87 said:
Why do these companies always do this? They underestimate Apple then just get humiliated when they end up being successful.
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I mean.. he's the freaking CEO. What do you expect him to say? "We are extremely worried and concerned about a competitor's product"? CEOs always will say what they need to to ease the minds of shareholders. We don't know what he really is thinking.
 
Alan Wynn said:
Because that was roughly the same statement that people made about them vis a vis phones. “They are a PC company.”

They do not own their factorit’s, but you are delusional if you think that they do not completely control their manufacturing processes, including developing new ones and new materials.

They have been working on this project for many years now, the big difference between them and others is that they rarely put their prototypes in to the market. They will iterate over and over until they decide they are ready to introduce a product or that they do not want to be in the market. Both are possible outcomes.

Unlike Tesla, Apple has no need to put a product into the market until they have all those problems resolved. Tesla had to have products in the market to survive. Apple can do all its R&D behind closed doors. That does not mean they will be successful, just that writing them off is silly.
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Heh, it's easy to make a product in secrecy that's the size of a watch, a pocketable phone or even the size of a Mac Pro.

Good luck testing an actual vehicle in that level of secrecy.

They have professional level paparazzi just for spying on new car testing on public roads. Because yes, it does have to happen.

I'm not writing them off. Not even close. I'm just saying that developing and manufacturing a vehicle is a whole different ballgame than the products they've designed & produced until now.

They will likely have no choice but to work with an established automaker to make this a reality, where the majority of the chassis & drivetrain design will be done by them, and Apple will design the technology & interior parts.
 
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Talking about the Apple car, I think the partnership with Hyundai was spot on. Tremendous manufacturing expertise, cheaper than Japan, logistic routes and business structure already in place in South Korea. What I don't know is, apart from the brand and UI, what can Apple bring to the table? I can't see much. Maybe that's enough, maybe not, and that's why it didn't go further.
 
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nfl46 said:
2021: There’s no way Apple can compete in the auto industry.

2041: Apple Car is the best selling car.
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unless apple comes out of the gate running with solid state battery, no amount of software tweaks can convince me of getting that instead of a tesla.
 
Dkka1 said:
Imagine thinking Tesla is very successful when they manage to sell half a million cars per year, when VWAG is selling 10 million cars per year, and already outselling Tesla in the European electric car market, and that's without being fed free money.
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The question is really not who sold the most cars this year, but where the market will be in a few years. If you think VW need not worry about Tesla or Apple, I can only say it is good for them that you are not running the company.
Dkka1 said:
There really is a, quite frankly, frightening, cult going on with Tesla. Let's be honest. It seems to be a common phenomena in the US these days. Cults all over the place.
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Wow, you must never have been to or heard about Luftgekühlt, or any of the other Porsche fan groups or shows, nor those dedicated to the mini-bus, the Vanagon, the Bug, or are companies with well loved brands that have loyal followings only cults when you do not like them?
 
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Mac Fly (film) said:
Apple relies almost exclusively on third parties to build iPhones. Apple mostly do the R&D and design and have Asian companies build it. US company Corning supplies glass and Apple supplies the chips. Apple are making a car. Steve wanted to design an Apple car 15 years ago, now the stars are aligning. Open your mind, they literally employ perhaps 2,000 car engineers at this stage. Many Tesla employees and several electric car and car battery company employees now work for Apple. Wrap your head around it.
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Not going to happen. They are far more likely to be involved with integrating technology (and services) into existing manufacturer’s vehicles.

Besides, only Americans feel that the car (automated or otherwise) is the best way for people to travel within & between cities. Everywhere else we use trains, bicycles or walk. When your only tool is a hammer...
 
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Dkka1 said:
Talking about the Apple car, I think the partnership with Hyundai was spot on. Tremendous manufacturing expertise, cheaper than Japan, logistic routes and business structure already in place in South Korea. What I don't know is, apart from the brand and UI, what can Apple bring to the table? I can't see much. Maybe that's enough, maybe not, and that's why it didn't go further.
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Yeah I LOVE that Apple went with Hyundai. Shows they’ve been doing their homework.

I mean think about it: if we can come up with all these ideas and assumptions in this thread—wouldn’t Apple?
 
Alan Wynn said:
The question is really not who sold the most cars this year, but where the market will be in a few years. If you think VW need not worry about Tesla or Apple, I can only say it is good for them that you are not running the company.

Wow, you must never have been to or heard about Luftgekühlt, or any of the other Porsche fan groups or shows, nor those dedicated to the mini-bus, the Vanagon, the Bug, or are companies with well loved brands that have loyal followings only cults when you do not like them?
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Everybody needs to worry about everybody, and CEOs must reassure stakeholders.

I'm not talking about the brand followers, I'm talking about a stock market valuation of 800bn. That's simply a collective cult in my opinion, fueled by greed, pop marketing, I don't know, but it is bizarre and an echo chamber. I didn't mean to offend our American friends, just saying that such social network related phenomena seems to be all over the place these days.
 
now i see it said:
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
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Because that is not mostly about electronics, sensors and software? I am curious who the number one seller of lidar products is in the world today. Pretty sure it is not any car manufacturer. Apple has developed products with manufacturing tolerances that make what is needed for automotive products pale in comparison. They may or may not decide to build a car, and if they do it may or may not be successful, but they have more than enough money and have taken more than enough time that your statement is silly.
 
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Mark Zuckerberg are you watching this? This is HOW you conduct business: not scare of little competition. not a fan of VW car brand but its CEO is awesome.
 
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