Apple Car will be built in America by Hyundai, report says
Reports out of Korea say a formal deal will reportedly come to life in March.
The auto industry wrote off the Apple Car years ago, following the collapse of the project in 2016, but as soon as 2021 arrived, a floodgate of new rumors opened. Now, it sounds likely a physical Apple Car is back on the table, and Hyundai may help bring it to life.
Following reports last week, IT Korea reported Sunday, via Reuters, that Hyundai plans to make its Apple partnership official this March. The newspaper said a prototype of the Apple Car may be ready in 2022 before production kicks off in 2024. That timeline tallies with previous reports before Hyundai came into the mix.
The Korean automaker declined to comment, and Apple did not return Roadshow's request. Hyundai started to walk back reports of its involvement last week, so we'll need to take this latest news with a big ol' salt shaker.
If the deal comes to life, the report originally said Hyundai will build Apple's machine at its Kia factory in West Point, Georgia, but the newspaper retracted that detail in a revision. The report also floated the possibility of Hyundai and Apple investing in a new joint facility in the US to build the car. The reported target for 2024 production is 100,000 Apple Cars with the possibility of 400,000 vehicles built annually in the years following.
If Hyundai were to build the Apple Car at its factory in Georgia, that would seem to point to Apple's EV riding on the Korean automaker's E-GMP platform. A new facility could open up more flexibility with what Apple may want to accomplish with its secretive car project.
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