'I'm not afraid of Apple's electric cars,' Volkswagen CEO said

by Spanish Coches

'We're not afraid,' said Herbert Diess, CEO of German car maker Volkswagen, about an electric car that Apple is reportedly developing independently. He expressed the view that entry into automobile manufacturing is difficult even for major IT companies.

Volkswagen CEO Diess'not afraid' of an Apple electric car | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-apple/volkswagen-ceo-diess-not-afraid-of-an-apple-electric-car-idUSKBN2AE0GN

Volkswagen CEO: I'm not scared of Apple --CNN
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/14/tech/volkswagen-ceo-apple/index.html

Since around 2015, it has been reported that Apple has been secretly promoting 'Project Titan,' which develops electric vehicles in-house. Rumors about Project Titan began to heat up in 2021, and in January 2021 there were rumors that 'Apple would outsource the manufacture of self-driving cars to Hyundai.'

'Hyundai will manufacture Apple's self-driving car,' Korean newspaper reports --GIGAZINE

Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess talks about the high barriers to entry for car manufacturing, regarding Apple, which is said to have 'may make some official announcement about its own car.' In an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, CEO Dies said that Apple has expertise in batteries, software, design, etc., so the flow of entering automobile manufacturing is 'logical'. 'The automotive industry is different from the typical technology sector, so it's not something you can take over in just one step,' he said. 'Apple won't be able to build an electric car overnight,' he said.

Volkswagen entered the electric vehicle field with 'e-up!' In 2013, and set the electric vehicle production target for 2025 under the slogan 'Become a world market leader in the electric vehicle field.' The number is 1.5 million. In addition, on February 10, 2021, it announced that it would partner with Microsoft to strengthen its autonomous driving solution. It is reported that the reason why CEO Dies showed a bullish stance to Apple's rumors that 'we are not afraid' is due to the ongoing efforts to manufacture electric vehicles and develop autonomous driving technology. I am.

Volkswagen Group teams up with Microsoft to accelerate the development of automated driving --Stories
https://news.microsoft.com/2021/02/10/volkswagen-group-teams-up-with-microsoft-to-accelerate-the-development-of-automated-driving/

Hyundai and Kia officially denied the above-mentioned rumor that 'Apple will outsource the manufacture of self-driving cars to Hyundai' on February 8, 2021. It is reported that the background of the official announcement by Hyundai and Kia was that 'the leak information that touched on the alliance with Hyundai caused Apple's disappointment known for its secrecy.'

Hyundai and Kia announced that they have not talked about automobiles with Apple, and the stock prices of both companies have fallen sharply --GIGAZINE