Apple continues to bring up their intention to make an iCar. The intention is for it to be electric.
They approached Kia Hyundai to be a partner. They had started talks that made Hyundai's stock spike upward. Then later Hyundai considered the terms something that would not be profitable, so talks broke down.
Apple still can't reasonably expect to produce a car all on their own in a practical time frame they are talking about.
I submit that Apple is best served licensing an EV design, or buying a company that has one. I also submit that they would be looking for a car line that is mature and has all of the bugs worked out of it. That is, a car with a history of shipping and a parts supply chain running.
Tesla is too ridiculously valued to work with and has too much of an agenda of their own. Tesla is also learning the hard way that without dealerships you are banned from selling in 16 states in the USA and your cars don't have a consistent repair facility.
Nikola disgraced themselves by rolling a truck down a slope and not telling anyone. Thus the hazards of working with an upstart.
There is one company remaining with dealerships, who could use some help being cool, and a vetted electric vehicle that is suitable to receive an Apple logo:
Nissan
The car is the Leaf. It has been out for many years.
The car would probably need to get a make over and be reshaped to be a better looking machine. That is quite doable in short order with experienced designers and 3D CAD and simulation capabilities.
Putting regulatory or international hurdles aside, Apple certainly has much more cash than the mere 20 billion it would take to buy Nissan. The price to sales of NSANY is less than 0.3, a steal.
After losing Hyundai, Apple will need to be kinder and gentler in negotiations to not lose the only electric vehicle platform remaining that they can reasonably chose.
If purchased by Apple outright, there are gasoline powered cars that Nissan has of course, such as the Rogue. They could be bundled into a spin off and sold, kept, phased out, or become an ICE version of iCar. After all, does Apple really care about the power source being electric, or are they out to build a larger platform, image, and sell more phones and watches within a compatible set?
Either way, we saw that when Apple starts talks with a car company, the stock spikes. I see Nissan stock spiking as well and these talks happening before 2021 is over.
Submitted April 09, 2021 at 09:57PM by Brett-_-_ https://ift.tt/31ZnNqn
