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Seoul / Berlin (dpa) - There has been speculation about an Apple car for years - but now reports are increasing that are becoming more and more specific.
First, a South Korean newspaper wrote, without citing the source, that Apple would soon invest billions in the carmaker Kia in order to prepare the production of its electric vehicles for 2024 in its plant in the US state of Georgia.
Then the US broadcaster CNBC added the information that the Apple cars should drive completely autonomously.
In the past few weeks there have been increasing indications that the iPhone company is looking to South Korea.
The Kia sister company Hyundai confirmed the financial service Bloomberg negotiations with Apple - only to speak a little later of the "interests of various companies".
The analyst Ming-chi Kuo, who is well networked in Apple's supply chain, wrote that Hyundai's new electric car platform E-GMP should serve as the basis for the vehicle of the electronics giant.
Hyundai is promising a range of up to 500 kilometers with E-GMP - and promises to be able to fill up 80 percent of the battery capacity within 18 minutes with a quick charge function.
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At the same time, CNBC restricted the fact that production could start later than 2024, that negotiations with Hyundai-Kia had not yet been concluded - and that other manufacturers could also be involved instead or in addition.
According to the newspaper «Nikkei», there are also talks with Japanese car companies.
Either way - these are the most detailed references to Apple's plans to date.
In the meantime it seemed as if an «iCar» would remain a phantom.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is said to have given the go-ahead for the development of an electric car in 2014.
Suppliers have already seen prototypes - but then Apple shifted down a gear and initially focused on developing software for autonomous driving.
The only irrefutable evidence of Apple's car ambitions so far have been the SUVs from the Toyota luxury brand Lexus, which have been converted into robot cars and are packed with sensors in Silicon Valley.
More than 50 of them are registered with the California Department of Transportation.
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In the past few years hot rumors have surfaced again and again.
It was said that Apple wanted to buy the British sports car maker McLaren.
The contract manufacturer Magna was repeatedly traded as a likely production partner.
Apple brought in experts from the electric car pioneer Tesla and established manufacturers.
But the years passed without a car from the iPhone company.
Meanwhile, Sony became the first electronics group in early 2019 to introduce its own prototype car, developed together with Magna.
Sony still says nothing about series production - but recent developments and ongoing road tests show that the Japanese are serious.
At the same time, the entire industry is changing.
The manufacturers proclaimed the era of the «software-defined car».
The basic idea: a vehicle can be continuously improved with software updates and further developed with new functions.
Tesla is already leading the way with its system updates, and the rest of the industry is swiveling on course.
And for years now, industry experts have seen a fundamental conflict between automakers and tech companies such as Apple and Google - a competition over the interface with people in the car.
People want to use their smartphone apps and services in their cars.
The manufacturers' strategy is to offer vehicle occupants their own world, from controlling the infotainment system to selecting apps and other services.
They compete with systems such as Apple's Carplay or Google's Android Auto, which allow users to bring apps from their iPhone or Android phone to the large screen in the cockpit.
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In the car of the future, controlling how people interact with them is not about prestige, but about money.
“Access to the customer will determine who makes the service revenues.
And that will be a quarter of the industry's revenues in ten years, ”says industry expert Axel Schmidt from the management consultancy Accenture.
Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty also points out that Apple would only have to conquer two percent of the global mobility market in order to reach the volume of today's iPhone business with its car.
And Apple is traditionally good at enlarging a market by entering it.
"In our opinion, such a development could significantly expand the market for electric vehicles," said a recent analysis by the investment bank.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210205-99-311844 / 2