[RahulNagaraj]

The launch of the much-anticipated electric vehicle from tech giant Apple is said to have been pushback, with the EV's potential launch now slated for 2026.

According to media reports, the EV from the iPhone maker will receive a number of changes compared to what was initially planned, allowing it to be priced under US$100,000. This would put it in direct contention with the entry-level Tesla Model S.



Reports state that Apple's secret car project was initially planned to come with fully-autonomous driving tech, with the vehicle not even getting a steering wheel. However, as per the changed plans, Apple will now be designing a more conventional car with a steering wheel and pedals. The fully-autonomous driving tech could still be offered, however, it will be limited to just highway driving initially.

Apple was said to be working on offering its electric vehicle with "Level 5" autonomy, which would allow passengers to specify a destination and arrive there without any further input. This level of autonomy would now be limited to when the car is on the highway. Further, the tech will also preempt and notify the driver when a shift to manual driving mode is required.

The Apple car is currently said to be still in its 'pre-prototype' stages, with design completion expected by late 2024 and the start of extensive testing in 2025.

Source: AppleInsider

Link to Team-BHP news

[meetbhav]

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

Reports state that Apple's secret car project was initially planned to come with fully-autonomous driving tech, with the vehicle not even getting a steering wheel. However, as per the changed plans, Apple will now be designing a more conventional car with a steering wheel and pedals.

Maybe the steering wheel and pedals are sold separately, in typical Apple fashion.

[Brumby]

Charger for sure will not be a part of standard equipment and will be sold separately for a shade under $25000.

[PreludeSH]

Will it support Android Auto ?

Its become a glamourous thing for companies to come out with EV cars. Maybe we will see others like Google, Amazon etc to bring out their own ones. This should be very smooth flowing surfaces with minimalistic design.

[arijitkanrar]

I think this video from Marques (MKBHD) will be interesting in the context of Full Self Driving.
This is Marques giving us an uninterrupted drive till his studio trying to judge the performance of Tesla's FSD tech (still in beta).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nF0K2nJ7N8&t=679s

[Mustang_Boss]

Apple knows the best when it comes to batteries, which are the primary components of a Car, just slightly bigger.

How much funds are they willing to invest to start their own service network across NA + EU + Top 10 Asian Countries + All Rich Middle eastern countries.

I wonder it would exceed 60-100 Billion which is what apple currently has in its books.

Considering regulations & costs involved, i think, it would be only for the North America till 2030 odd or so. So, lets have no hopes on this coming to india before 2035 or 2040.

[ambandla]

Nope, this is just a plain rumor created by those who does not have anything else to write. Apple is indeed working on car in a different way. They want to take Carplay to next level by working with manufacturers and completely rethinking how ICE works. They also seem to be working on autonomous drive solution.

They are not going to build or sell a car. Why do they want to turn a trillion dollar company into a billion dollar company?

[GTO]

In my personal opinion, there is less than 1% chance of Apple entering an extremely capital-intensive market with slim product margins, which also takes up an enormous amount of management bandwidth. From the USA, Tesla is the first car company to have seen success after....Ford, GM & Chrysler!

I'm not buying this rumour at all.

Originally Posted by ambandla

They want to take Carplay to next level by working with manufacturers and completely rethinking how ICE works.

Well said. They will look more on the technology & software side of cars, not building cars themselves.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by GTO

In my personal opinion, there is less than 1% chance of Apple entering an extremely capital-intensive market with slim product margins, which also takes up an enormous amount of management bandwidth. From the USA, Tesla is the first car company to have seen success after....Ford, GM & Chrysler!

I am not sure if I call 32.9% gross margin on a $60k average selling price product slim margin. Talking about Tesla here. If Tesla can, Apple can too but that also means they would either have to build it themselves like Tesla does (vertical integration) or price it higher which looks less likely because as the prices increase the addressable market drops nearly exponentially.

To put it in perspective, Tesla made a net profit of $3.3bn ($5.xbn gross) last quarter, almost the same as Toyota selling a fraction of the number of cars they sell. And they are doubling every year. It is similar to Apple in that they collect over 80% of the industry profit with the iPhone.

https://electrek.co/2022/04/22/tesla...ces-explained/

https://apnews.com/article/earnings-...b56a15e4146fab

To me this is a very lucrative market but you have to, have to do it right. And if there is another company which can do it, it is Apple.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by ambandla

They want to take Carplay to next level by working with manufacturers and completely rethinking how ICE works. They also seem to be working on autonomous drive solution.

Carplay is free for use for the car manufacturers. Its not a licensing business. It is one of those ecosystem features that keeps you coming back buy an iPhone. It does not make money for Apple per se.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/05/29/...ive-entry.html

From reports, they wanted to do a fully autonomous car in a typically applesque way but they have had to scale down their ambitions and I can see why given the challenges of making a fully autonomous car. Tesla is a prime example - even though they are the furthest, they still arent there and they have the most real world driving data of any company on the planet. AI doesnt work without training data, atleast not well.

You seem to imply Apple will sell self driving as a service but i cant see that happening because they arent in the business of selling just services, its always devices and services. And if they do solve self driving it actually will be obtuse to not use it in their own car and sell it as a standalone service and make little money. A great example is Apple Silicon - they can sell their chips to phone manufacturers and literally take down qualcom if they wanted to but they dont. Qualcom market cap is approx $130bn

[neerajku]

I really doubt this would be true.. Apple sticks to its core knitting. And has built expertise in extremely efficient chip design for mobile application, product design of mobile computing and communication products; health products are an extension of that. Not sure how will this translate into a mobility product. But who knows, may be... But surely will be a good product and I am sure will not be for the masses. :-)

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

I am not sure if I call 32.9% gross margin on a $60k average selling price product slim margin.

Well, it took them almost two decades to get there, burning money like it was going out of fashion!!

You also need to study the P&L and Balance sheet a little more before ups start comparing with traditional car manfacturers. Musk, although he won’t admit it, has raked up billions in subsidies and tax advantages, not available to other (US and other) based companies. Also, they are still selling emission credits to our car manufacturers. It boost their toppling as it counts as sales, but it comes at no cost of sales, so a huge margin boost. And they are an energy company too, so they will keep in raking the subsidies and tax advantages.

You might be able to generate higher margins than you competitors as long as you have some competitive advantage. For the last say 3-5 years, Tesla simply did not have much competition. As the other car manufacturers are beginning to become successful in just about all car segments it remains doubtful as to what that will do to their margin. One thing is for sure, it is unlikely to go up. The one thing traditional car manufacturers till have over Tesla is size/scale. It will take them some time to get things in order, but it is size and scale that brings you the lowest cost of sales. Customer value brings you the toppling (unit sales price).

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

And if there is another company which can do it, it is Apple.

I don’t think so. They have no experience in this sector at all. Historically, there are very few successtories about companies who ventured to far away from their core business. Nearly all end in misery!

And you will never ever be able to match the apple nett earning, percentage wise, with cars, so getting into the car manufacturing business is going to water down the Apple margin. I don’t see Tim, his board, or any of his shareholders going for that. Using Airplay to get a foot in the door is a very safe tactic.

Jeroen

[SKC-auto]

I believe Apple simply outsources manufacturing to Foxconn or Magna, they would like to stay in designing and software.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Well, it took them almost two decades to get there, burning money like it was going out of fashion!!

You say burning money, I say building assets, factories and software.

Musk, although he won’t admit it, has raked up billions in subsidies and tax advantages, not available to other (US and other) based companies.

From what I understand, they took loan from DOE, Musk said Tesla paid it back with interest. I don't particularly know if there are any tax advantages given to Tesla, all EV buyers received tax benefit irrespective of brand.

Also, they are still selling emission credits to our car manufacturers.

I just checked their Q3 earnings, the emission credits are just 5.7% of their profit, it's below 10% for last 5-6 quarters.

The one thing traditional car manufacturers till have over Tesla is size/scale. It will take them some time to get things in order, but it is size and scale that brings you the lowest cost of sales.

One thing to note here is, before traditional car manufacturers respond to competition, Tesla will be almost producing 4M cars by 2025(for context BMW makes 2.5M cars), each of their GF has capacity to produce 1M cars, Tesla is also getting ready to announce construction of atleast 2 more GF, that makes 6 GFs with 6M capacity by 2027(more than MB and BMW combined).

Eventually they have to make $25K car, which reduces their profit per car, but still believe they will be the most profitable car company as we transition to EVs.

[MDED]

Apple launching its car is akin to we buying “Surf Excel Biscuits”

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by SKC-auto

I believe Apple simply outsources manufacturing to Foxconn or Magna, they would like to stay in designing and software.

You say burning money, I say building assets, factories and software.


From what I understand, they took loan from DOE, Musk said Tesla paid it back with interest. I don't particularly know if there are any tax advantages given to Tesla, all EV buyers received tax benefit irrespective of brand.


I just checked their Q3 earnings, the emission credits are just 5.7% of their profit, it's below 10% for last 5-6 quarters.


One thing to note here is, before traditional car manufacturers respond to competition, Tesla will be almost producing 4M cars by 2025(for context BMW makes 2.5M cars), each of their GF has capacity to produce 1M cars, Tesla is also getting ready to announce construction of atleast 2 more GF, that makes 6 GFs with 6M capacity by 2027(more than MB and BMW combined).

Eventually they have to make $25K car, which reduces their profit per car, but still believe they will be the most profitable car company as we transition to EVs.

No, look at their balance sheet. Those billions don’t account for their current assets by a long shot.

Your earlier post mentioned gross margin. The credits add to the nett margin! A considerable margin.

Can you name me one manufacturer who rakes up 6 percentage points by selling credits to others?

I know quite number of car manufacturers who would kill for a 6% nett margin on their cars!


It’s not about subsidies for the consumer, it’s about subsidies to Tesla. Depends on whom you like to believe but probably at least 5 billion dollars.

https://www.businessinsider.com/elon...n-april-2021-1