New car maker may enter the market

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z1ggy

z1ggy

Lifer
May 17, 2008
10,010
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...And it's Apple??? o_O

http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1096749_insiders-say-apple-is-working-on-its-own-car

The rumor originates with The Mac Observer’s report on a BusinesInsider article, as noted (and discounted) by UI designer and writer John Gruber. The Mac Observer’s Bryan Chaffin wrote “I should add that when I asked one of my sources flat out to put a percentage chance on Apple working on an actual car—rather than some kind of car-related technology—I was told, ’80 percent.’”

What makes that percentage guesstimate accurate—or possibly even an underestimate, as Chaffin argues? Several elements, read together, could point directly at an Apple Car project—and not one related to infotainment or iPhone integration, but toward building an actual four-wheeled transportation device.


First, an (unnamed, confidential) Apple employee’s statement to BusinessInsider: “Apple’s latest project is too exciting to pass up. I think it will change the landscape and give Tesla a run for its money.” That’s a pretty direct indication of a car being in the works, at least in the initial project stages, at Apple—if the insider’s account is true.

Add to that, Chaffin claims, the widespread belief at the upper echelons of Silicon Valley circles that Apple is and has been working on a car for some time—a factor to be taken with, at the least, a grain or two of salt.

Mix in the poaching of Tesla employees above and beyond the normal sort of Silicon Valley turnover, and it’s beginning to come clearer, although this factor could simply indicate a desire to better integrate or create new in-car products such as Apple Car Play--except for the type of people being hired and their specialties.

In other words, believing Apple is working on a car is still, at this point, a gut feeling—you either think it’s real or you don’t. And even if it is real, Apple may decide not to give the project the green light for production; there are many barriers to entry into the car business, and even a great product doesn’t guarantee profitability—see, for example, Tesla Motors.
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Murloc

Murloc

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2008
5,382
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might just be an internal experiment and then they'll just partner up with some manufacturer to take over the infotainment, ADAS or stuff like that.
The barriers to entry are huge.
 
z1ggy

z1ggy

Lifer
May 17, 2008
10,010
66
91
Murloc said:
might just be an internal experiment and then they'll just partner up with some manufacturer to take over the infotainment, ADAS or stuff like that.
The barriers to entry are huge.
Click to expand...

The only barrier is $$, IMO.

Apple has pleeeeennntttyyyy of that.
 
PliotronX

PliotronX

Diamond Member
Oct 17, 1999
8,883
107
106
Oh lord an Apple car? Somehow $120,000 for a smart car with a windshield that shatters if you look at it wrong doesn't sound enticing.
 
K

Kushina

Golden Member
Nov 22, 2010
1,598
2
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Apple is nothing without jobs, if they are serious about this project it will likely be the point where they fall and start losing money.

Unless ofc Anand saves them.
 
Puppies04

Puppies04

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2011
5,909
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Specs include.

*Works on any road that apple has cleared (road owner needs to pay fee to apple to be on the list), if you try and drive on a road not cleared then ther car stops and must be pushed.

*Non fillable fuel tank, once you use up the fuel you have to buy a new one, wouldn't matter anyway because it runs on a new fuel that only apple make and they don't sell it seperately from the car.

*as already pointed out, windscreen is made from a new type of glass that is almost shatter restistant as long as nothing touches it. N.B may bend slightly this is part of the specifaction of the widscreen and does not constitute manufacturing fault.

*Faster than any car in the world (actually it isn't but any other manufacturer disputing the claims will be tied up in a billion $ lawsuit for 5 years at which point apple will succesfully argue that their car operates in a different version of time and it is in fact the fastest car in the world)

*Shortly after its release apple will successfully sue every other car manufacturer in the world because it has a patent on round wheels.
 
SunnyD

SunnyD

Belgian Waffler
Jan 2, 2001
32,675
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www.neftastic.com
Puppies04 said:
Specs include.

*Works on any road that apple has cleared (road owner needs to pay fee to apple to be on the list), if you try and drive on a road not cleared then ther car stops and must be pushed.

*Non fillable fuel tank, once you use up the fuel you have to buy a new one, wouldn't matter anyway because it runs on a new fuel that only apple make and they don't sell it seperately from the car.

*as already pointed out, windscreen is made from a new type of glass that is almost shatter restistant as long as nothing touches it. N.B may bend slightly this is part of the specifaction of the widscreen and does not constitute manufacturing fault.

*Faster than any car in the world (actually it isn't but any other manufacturer disputing the claims will be tied up in a billion $ lawsuit for 5 years at which point apple will succesfully argue that their car operates in a different version of time and it is in fact the fastest car in the world)

*Shortly after its release apple will successfully sue every other car manufacturer in the world because it has a patent on round wheels.
Click to expand...

You forgot one:

*If you hold the steering wheel in the wrong spot it immediately careens off the road as it just lost contact with the "network".

*The above issue will be rectified by purchasing an ugly rubber bumper for your car at grossly inflated prices and/or being told "you're doing it wrong."
 
Puppies04

Puppies04

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2011
5,909
17
76
SunnyD said:
You forgot one:

*If you hold the steering wheel in the wrong spot it immediately careens off the road as it just lost contact with the "network".

*The above issue will be rectified by purchasing an ugly rubber bumper for your car at grossly inflated prices and/or being told "you're doing it wrong."
Click to expand...


*The sat nav takes you exactly where you want to go assuming you didn't want to go to the address you typed into the sat nav.
 
Puppies04

Puppies04

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2011
5,909
17
76
* Car will only park and unlock doors at stores that are apple accredited because of errrr reasons.... (interested in becoming an apple accredited store? Memberships start at just 45% of turnover)
 
JM Aggie08

JM Aggie08

Diamond Member
Jan 3, 2006
8,368
960
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Presenting the iCar

lowlyworm.jpg
 
z1ggy

z1ggy

Lifer
May 17, 2008
10,010
66
91
In all seriousness though, I feel like this is such a fail. Is apple really going to invest tons of capital to hire experienced car designers? They certainly don't have the engineers working there now who could do this. They obviously have the cash to produce a car if they wanted, but it just seems like a waste to try and enter the car market unless they are going to offer up something superior to what's out there now.

So then what, all design work will be sub contracted out at some insanely high cost to them, which would get passed onto the buyer?

Yeah this car, if ever made, would cost boat loads of money and only be for the super wealthy who feel like pissing away their money for some niche product.
 
P

PokerGuy

Lifer
Jul 2, 2005
13,650
201
101
The sad truth is, millions and millions of idiots would flock to buy such a vehicle just because it has an "apple" sticker on it. We've seen that effect time and again.
 
z1ggy

z1ggy

Lifer
May 17, 2008
10,010
66
91
PokerGuy said:
I would not be surprised if they've considered it, or might still be considering it.
Click to expand...

However, the article says they want to "give Tesla a run for their money."

The only way to really do that, with out buying them outright, is to hire engineers who have experience designing EV's with the same requirements of the Model S. Not too many of those people exist.

They really would be better off trying to buy Tesla, then design all the software and UI stuff. From what I've seen though, that's already pretty good in the model S as is. Plus, the new iCar would cost even more than a model S due to redesigning what's already existing.

So really, none of this makes sense to me.
 
C

CovictJoe

Member
Oct 15, 2014
25
0
16
I can't think of something I would want less than a car designed by apple. A German car comes close.
 
Newell Steamer

Newell Steamer

Diamond Member
Jan 27, 2014
6,894
8
0
//ATOT_Arm Chair Expert On Automobiles
Dead. They are so fucking dead. It's just goddamn over. They are a dead-asaurus. So fucking dead.
 
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