It Is Said That Apple Will Invest 4 Trillion Won in Kia

According to South Korea's East Asia daily, Apple will invest 4 trillion won (about US $3.6 billion) in Kia as part of its cooperation in electric vehicle production. However, the East Asia Daily has no clear source.Reported that Apple plans to cooperate with Kia to produce apple cars at Kia's factory in Georgia; The two partners may sign an agreement on February 17 and plan to launch Apple cars in 2024, with an initial production capacity target of 100000 vehicles.Reports that apple is considering entering the automotive field have triggered speculation about potential manufacturing partners. People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Apple's automobile research and development is still in the early stage, and it will take at least five years to launch an autonomous electric vehicle, which indicates that Apple may not be in a hurry to make a cooperation decision.

On February 3, Kia's share price jumped 14%, the highest since 1997. Representatives of apple and Kia declined to respond to the news.Just the day before, Guo Mingxuan, an analyst at Tianfeng securities, predicted in a report to investors that Apple cars would be released in 2025. Apple would outsource parts manufacturing and assembly to old car manufacturers, thus significantly shortening the development time and accelerating the listing. Apple cars would be positioned as a very high-end model, and the price and parts cost would be higher than ordinary electric vehicles.In addition, there are reports that Apple may have hired Dr. Manfred Harrer, head of Porsche chassis development. However, it is unclear what position Harrer holds at Apple. There is no official news about Harrer's resignation. His LinkedIn introduction is still working at Porsche, but it is said that he has said goodbye to his colleagues at the end of 2020.