Paul Morris·

Apple Halts Hyundai And Kia Electric Car Discussions

According to a report by Bloomberg, Cupertino-based Apple Inc. has begun, and now halted, electric vehicle manufacturing discussions with both Hyundai and South Korea-based Kia.

Over the last few months, there has been increasing speculation about Apple’s plans to compete with Tesla, and others, in the electric vehicle space. Thus far, Tim Cook’s company has managed to keep the internal project relatively quiet and close to it chest but it’s becoming abundantly clear that Apple will enter the world of vehicles at some point over the next few years.

Japanese outlet Nikkei has reported that Apple is in talks with at least six different auto vehicle manufacturers in Japan regarding supply partnerships but it seems that none of those has come to fruition, yet.

The Apple-Hyundai Motor connection was made public earlier this year when the vehicle manufacturer made a public statement confirming that Apple was in talks with a number of companies, including its own. It seems that Hyundai has since tried to distance itself from that statement but the damage with Apple appears to have been done as far as that relationship is concerned.

Historically, Apple likes to keep extremely quiet about these relationships and is likely extremely disappointed in Hyundai’s decision to go public with the early stages of the partnership.

It’s currently unclear as to the extent of the discussions between Apple and the vehicle companies as to what the conditions of any deal could be. Apple will likely demand a high-quality manufacturing experience and will have minimum threshold limits on production levels. Which companies, if any, can satisfy those requirements, is still yet to be seen.

With that said, there is likely plenty of time for Apple to sort out those relationships. An earlier report has suggested that Apple won’t be ready to release an Apple Car for at least five-to-seven years, which means that there is a long road ahead for Apple and any manufacturing and supply partners.

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