Bloomberg:
Apple Inc., which has been working secretly on a car, is pushing its team to begin production of an electric vehicle as early as 2020, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The possibility of Apple building a car just took a slight turn towards the positive with this definitive quote from Bloomberg. Obviously, this is not a quote from Apple, so it is automatically suspect.
But add this bit of kindling on the rest of the stack, including the battery poaching lawsuit, which also moves the needle towards Apple investing in automobile hardware, as opposed to some form of Car OS.
We spent a lot of time discussing this on this week’s Amplified. Take a listen.
I think the car industry is ripe for disruption since they are slow to incorporate a way to use tech (like iPhone) into autos or a way to update it and don’t want to let tech companies do it because they’ll lose that monetization stream.
I have a 5 year old Mercedes that can’t be updated, the sound, CD, GPS, telephone system is hopelessly mired in flip phones, antiquated when the car was made, and somethingI haven’t had in years. There is a work around that is supposed to semi-support Apple but it is a load of frustration. Love the car but what is wrong with Mercedes? Am I supposed to buy a new car every 2 years just to keep up with the communication technology advances because they won’t and won’t let tech companies update it with a non-Mercedes product?
Rant over. It just really gets me.
They actually do expect people who want to keep ‘current’ (a small percentage of buyers, honestly), to trade in or to be on a lease.
Leases are where the luxury makers make the big bucks these days; I can’t find more current specific numbers, but as of 2008, for example, 70% of E-class sales were really leases.
Other sources suggest this is generally true, if closer to 50-60% for the entire product line, as of last year.
(Not that MB has ever had good in-car electronics; the COMAND system was dismal; if you want a good electronics package, buy an Audi or a Volvo, say.)