Apple targets car production by 2024

[feye]

Another tech company biting off more than they can chew.

Apple will throw a bunch of money at this and fail.

Well, if they can find a company like Foxconn in the car industry (i.e. - Jaguar I-PACE in Austria or NIO in Southchina) they might come up with a decent car. But then they have to sell AND service it.

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[feye]

Apple has more than $200 billion in cash. If they want to they can.

But Porsche invests in Rimac not Apple. Why is that? Because they toying around and have no clue how to enter this market to make money?

For that money you can buy most of the shares of the German car industry. But what does that give you?

The problem with all this: cars are an old industry with very thin margins but huge risks. Look at all the car brands over the years gone bust.

 

[feye]

Or buy an established legacy car builder (e.g. Daimler Benz) for a bit more to acquire the mechanical design and manufacturing know-how, and then take care of the software platform and user interface themselves.

True, but that means they would need to buy the company completely and then throw out the (in my option industry leading - based on reviews of new EQA/EQS -) car software to replace it with what exactly?

 

[Kingske]

True, but that means they would need to buy the company completely and then throw out the (in my option industry leading - based on reviews of new EQA/EQS -) car software to replace it with what exactly?

I never owned a Tesla myself (fit and finish did not meet my expectations), so everything is hearsay for me, but would Tesla’s level of software integration and operating system maturity/stability not still be significantly ahead of what Mercedes can offer? Also access to Tesla’s supercharger network seems to be a real asset.

 

[feye]

I never owned a Tesla myself (fit and finish did not meet my expectations), so everything is hearsay for me, but would Tesla’s level of software integration and operating system maturity/stability not still be significantly ahead of what Mercedes can offer?

My personal experience: 4 years ago, I rented a brand new S-Class in Europe. It came with lane assist and ACC like the BMW 7 series I rented a few times years earlier. This LKA in this new Mercedes worked great on highways. It was not quite as good as the AP in my MS90D to keep the lane, but it handled better, much more smooth, no need to rip the steering wheel to change lane.

Overall the software in my MS90D feels like a bit of javascript thrown on a browser window in order to bring the web experience into the car and dump google maps for navigation and Netflix into the mix. A few libs to access underlying car functions, ready to deliver a rolling tablet to customers. The AP once usable, is now crippled by a useless speed limited recognizing AI? - whatever it is, it is ridiculously bad. The software in my MS90D makes the car look and feel extra cheap compare to any other car.

The MBUX in the new EQS is the best EV car software this German YTler has ever seen.

Also access to Tesla’s supercharger network seems to be a real asset.

This really depends on the location. In the US the network seems strong in Europe it is not anymore, in China it never was. China has around 130000 charging companies, installing 284000 public EV charging outlets in 2020, including 112000 in December alone. Versus 6000 Superchargers at more than 760 locations.

This reflects my experience here, the numbers don't lie.

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