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"It remains unclear who would assemble an Apple-branded car, but sources have said they expect the company to rely on a manufacturing partner to build vehicles.
by mikece 6y ago
"It remains unclear who would assemble an Apple-branded car, but sources have said they expect the company to rely on a manufacturing partner to build vehicles."
Does Apple have enough money (cash, line of credit capability) to simply buy an automaker? I can see where it would make the most sense to partner but having an option to buy at a later point could bring advantages to Apple.
- Veen 6y ago> Apple has $191.83 billion in cash, according to its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings I would say so. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/29/apple-q4-cash-hoard-heres-how-much-apple-has-on-hand.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/29/apple-q4-cash-hoard-heres-ho...
- ceejayoz 6y ago(GM's market cap is $58.98 billion right now, for comparison's sake.)
- sixQuarks 6y agoYes, but GM also comes with $128 billion in debt.
- mikece 6y agoThat's CURRENT debt. The joke has been made that GM is a pensions and healthcare company that also makes cars...
- oblio 6y agoThey don't need to buy GM, though. They could buy someone smaller, such as Mazda or Subaru.
- Veen 6y agoOr Ferrari. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/04/ferrari-is-now-worth-more-than-general-motors-and-ford.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/04/ferrari-is-now-worth-more-th...
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- teruakohatu 6y ago> Does Apple have enough money (cash, line of credit capability) to simply buy an automaker? I think the answer is Yes regardless of the industry (or small country).
- ragebol 6y agoNo need to buy an automaker, there's companies that have a car factory to build cars on contract for auto companies. One example is VDL in Born, Netherlands making BMWs. That contract ends in a few years iirc, so they could produce Apple cars by then perhaps.
- _Microft 6y agoThey do not have to buy an automaker. There is for example "Magna" a canadian-austrian automotive supplier [0][1] which also produces complete cars for their customers (contract manufacturing) [2]. Magna has started producing electric vehicles recently, for example the Jaguar i-Pace. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_International https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_International [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Steyr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Steyr [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Steyr#Production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Steyr#Production
- kube-system 6y agoI would expect that more than a few traditional automakers would trip over themselves to make a deal with Apple too.
- Keyframe 6y agoIn what volume?
- jldugger 6y agoThis sounds much more like than Apple buying a manufacturer and optimizing its supply chain -- its like the ultimate form of pushing inventory costs upstream.
- nabla9 6y agoEven big car companies like Mercedes outsource the manufacture of some models for third parties. For example Mercedes-Benz GLC is assembled by four different companies: Daimler AG itself, HICOM, TAAP, and Valmet Automotive. Just like they don't own companies that assemble iPhones, they don't need to own car assembly. They can dictate and control the quality without owning factories. Most parts are outsourced anyway.
- sixQuarks 6y agoI'm surprised so many people here on HN are not up to speed with Tesla enough to know that Apple could never compete with them if they don't do their own manufacturing. Tesla is the most vertically integrated car manufacturer right now, and that's a huge competitive advantage. They plan to manufacturer their batteries directly into the vehicle frames. This saves a ton of weight and would be nearly impossible for a competing manufacturer who outsources everything. That is just one example. if Apple is serious about a car, they need to be vertically integrated to seriously compete with Tesla
- nabla9 6y agoWhat you say is only true for battery packs and the skateboard of Tesla. Rest of the car, assembly and painting is easily outsourced. Tesla is below average car outside the skateboard. The quality of workmanship is not good. They would have already made millions of cars without Elons robot factory dream that failed.
- sixQuarks 6y agoOK, we shall see
- the_duke 6y agoApple prefers to outsource the difficult, high capex, low-margin and worker rights/fair compensation encumbered aspect of their products to third parties. Buying a manufacturer would bring all of that in-house.
- tekkk 6y agoThat is so true. Ethics are mere marketing talk when investor profits are on the line. And Foxconn is universally considered as the "evil guy" when they are just doing exactly what Apple wants them to do: manufacture the parts very cheap. I can't recall do they also assemble them too.