Hyundai, Kia deny EV talks with Apple
Southern Korean automaker Hyundai denied it really is on talks with Apple in autonomous electric cars, a month after it verified early-stage discussion with the iPhone supplier, sending its shares skidding.
In a regulatory filing on the Korea Exchange, Hyundai said it wished to clarify "rumours" in regards to a joint effort between its affiliate Kia Motors and Apple.
The company said it received proposals from numerous foreign companies to jointly develop self-driving electric vehicles but nothing has been finalised yet.
"We are not conducting consultations with Apple on the production of autonomous vehicles," Hyung-geun Bae, the company’s director and brain of finance, said.
"We are considering additional cooperation with a number of overseas companies about the autonomous electric vehicle business … but it has not been made the decision but," he added.
Shares of Hyundai and Kia fell 4.4 % and 12.2 per cent, respectively, found in Seoul trading following the filing.
Reports emerged in December that Apple strategies to produce its initial EV by 2024.
On January 8, Hyundai said it was in early talks with Apple, sending its stocks up nearly 20 %. Kia's shares jumped a lot more than 60 per cent on the news as well. A report last week by DongA Ilbo stated Kia would receive an expenditure of $3.6 billion from Apple to create EVs, sending its stock up 10 per cent.
Apple secretly began its automated and EVs expansion - referred to as Project Titan - in 2014, according to Reuters. The business has however to publicly discuss some of its car goals, but almost 5,000 engineers and scientists have been focusing on the project since 2018.
The company faces stiff competition in the electric car industry from devoted EV maker Tesla and automotive giants just like Audi, BMW, Volkswagen and General Motors.
The Covid-19 pandemic has increased the give attention to making the car industry greener.
Kia, which is South Korea's second-largest automobile maker after parent provider Hyundai, will invest $26bn by 2025 on developing its EV and self-traveling technology. It aims to market a lot more than 500,000 EVs a yr by 2026 and 800,000 in next 10 years.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com
