According to reports, San Francisco-based tech giant, Apple is in talks with McLaren, a British automotive manufacturer of luxury, high-performance sports cars, for a possible acquisition. These talks are said to have originated a few months back and are in the final stages.
Apple has been interested in developing a car and while the official launch of Apple car will be somewhere around 2020, the company might be looking to take help from an external source. In this case, McLaren would be the perfect company to help execute the plan.
The electric car from Apple might or might not have self-driving capabilities, and has to be something far superior than Tesla or it won’t sell well. Apple will also have to think about the R&D required and the infrastructure for its customers, which Tesla seems to have figured out very well.
According to Financial Times, Apple is looking to purchase McLaren or at least interested in investing into their car business. The FT also reports that this acquisition could cost between $1.3 billion and $2 billion to Apple.
McLaren cars start at a hefty price tag of $150,000 and more, so it is quite obvious that Apple is seeking interest in McLaren to get access to the engineers and R&D. Apple car could possibly be a result of this acquisition, opening a new segment for both the companies.
However, a report in Jalopnik says that these are just rumours and Apple is not even in talks with Mclaren. The site quoted an official terse one line statement from Mclaren stating, “We can confirm that McLaren is not in discussion with Apple in respect of any potential investment,” A source went beyond and stated that there was zero truth to the rumor. “It’s not true at all. There’s no chatter, there’s no acquisition,”.
Whether or not Apple is buying Mclaren, Apple’s looks to be interested in Auto space and something is surely happening in Apple headquarters!
A self-driving electric sports car in the making?
To take on the likes of Chevrolet and Tesla, Apple will have to design an electric car that does more than the cars from these companies. Tesla develops nearly perfect cars and has been praised by industry critics as well as the customers.
Autonomous vehicles are still under development and this is where Apple might be looking to hit the bullseye. With experts in McLaren, Apple probably wants to fast-track the development of its own vehicle and create a new segment of electric sports cars.
Both the companies have denied any such rumours but a lot of media reports point to a possible acquisition. McLaren will work as an independent entity after acquisition, but will work more closely with Apple in joint ventures.
Source: TechCrunch
