Apple car Ping!
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Posted on 02/14/2015 4:07:50 AM PST by shove_it
The smoke surrounding rumors of an Apple-branded vehicle has begun to thicken, as a new report says that Apple is indeed working on an all-electric vehicle that would take the shape of a minivan, with a huge team tasked to the project.
Apple has given the project codename "Titan," according to the Wall Street Journal. The company is said to have "several hundred" employees working in the group.
Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly green-lighted the project almost a year ago, and company executives have already begun to meet with potential contract manufacturers, including Canadian firm Magna Steyr. Apple iPod and iPhone designer Steve Zadesky, formerly of Ford, is said to be running the project.
The team — which has its own development facility away from the main Infinite Loop campus — could eventually swell to some 1,000 employees, and Zadesky has been given free reign to pull talent from any existing Apple group. Zadesky's group is reportedly researching "robotics, metals and materials consistent with automobile manufacturing."
The Journal's report follows hours after a similar missive from the Financial Times, which revealed a "top-secret research lab" staffed with automotive executives. Among those who have made the move is former Mercedes-Benz R&D head Johann Jungwirth, who joined Apple as a Mac systems engineering leader last fall.
Apple design chief Jony Ive is believed to have been personally recruiting automotive executives. Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed earlier that Apple has tried "very hard" to poach engineers from the electric carmaker, offering $250,000 bonuses and 60 percent pay raises.
Rumors of an Apple-branded vehicle have been around for years, but began to gather steam when Apple was revealed as the company behind a fleet of mysterious sensor-laden vans which have appeared around the U.S. in recent months. Those vans, which are almost certainly designed for data collection to augment Apple's mapping service, are unlikely to be directly related to any potential vehicle project, which is likely years away from production.
And then track every aspect of its use once you have sufficient market penetration.
Maybe so, but you don’t have and R&D team that “could eventually swell to some 1,000 employees,....researching robotics, metals and materials consistent with automobile manufacturing”, in order to design a dashboard iPod holder.
Will it cost 20% more than any other comparable machine simply for the privilege of sporting an Apple logo?
Will you have to buy the latest model every year in order to keep up with the Jones?
Well said. I think it would be extremely exciting if Apple got into cars. Just think of all the good things that could come about if Apple and Tesla got into a competitive tussle.
Yeah, I know what you mean ... but I just don’t believe it yet. It just seems too far afield of what Apple has done in the past. But maybe Apple is way more capable and innovative than I think.
Maybe. However, you won’t be forced to buy it.
No hybrid or electric car is profitable. The cost of entry into the car business is very high, with small profit margins. This would not be the best use of Apple’s funds. But creating a total car computer system seems to be logical. Car companies do not do software well and I hope Apple is smart enought to not try and build a car.
... LOL ... my Ford Taurus won’t haul too many sheets either ... :-) ...
I don’t buy proprietary electricity right now to charge my iPhone and iPad. In fact, it’s my Ford Taurus that is charging my iPad, as I type this to you ... :-) ...
That's how I pictured it -- and of course I had to, what with the language hurdles and all.
So does that mean a 9$/day fuel cost isn't unreasonably low for a modern cab?
Not supposed FReep and drive!
Toyota has targeted the “black car” business with their Avalon “Livery Edition” hybrid sedan, with a variety of extended factory warranties on up past 100,000 miles. EPA city for the Avalon hybrid, which is a full-size car, is 40 mpg. Compare that to practically any non-hybrid vehicle in stop-and-go city traffic all day long. Most would be in the teens and most full size would be in the low teens. So, triple the mileage sounds plausible. $9.00 a day vs. $30.00 a day sounds a little extreme on that basis. He was driving something that got really horrible gas mileage before, single digits.
Neither will my Maxima so I have a truck..........
Not true. The Toyota Prius, although it took 10 years to happen, is now profitable and making up 10% of Toyota's U.S. sales.
These technologies are a long-term investment for automakers. Here is a good article on the subject:
Thanks, I stand corrected. After 17 years and 1 billion dollars Toyota shows a profit on the hybrid. Question, is the car paying back the 1 billion dollar investment or just covering only current production costs.
And I still say a car would be a bad investment for Apple.
Yes, I thought “Titan” was already taken.
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Why should they pay income tax on money that has already been taxed WHERE IT WAS EARNED simply because the move it back here? The United States is one of only TWO countries in the world that taxes already taxed income. The other is a podunk country in Central Africa. ALL of the rest recognize that the taxing authorities of the countries where the money was earned are legitimately the ones to have the income taxes and it is therefore fully taxed! Are you a Democrat to believe that the money rightfully belongs to the government until the government lets you keep a portion?
Until Apple begins to support American workers.
Apple makes its MacPro computer in Austin, Texas, and the Apple iMacs are assembled in Elk Grove, CA. Apple is directly responsible for creating over 1 million jobs in the USA. That is pretty doing good at supporting American Workers.
I strongly favor making dividends an expense for corporate tax purposes. Dividends are taxable to the stockholder, and that should be enough, thank you very much. Make that change to the law, and I would expect Apple’s foreign money to flow back here, payed out in dividends. Instead of sitting overseas and - let’s face it - being invested overseas.Pay it out here, to American stockholders, and they will - being investors after all - invest much of it in America, a little overseas, no doubt (freedom, after all . . .), and spend the rest mostly on their children. And pension funds will pay out to pensioners, who will pay their heating bills and their electric bills.
Interest paid on corporate bonds, BTW, are already treated as an expense for corporate tax purposes, and rightly so. Dividends should be the same - taxable only to the individual receiving the money.
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