An Apple car? A nightmare for many, but not all, companies in the sector.
Apple is the company that most of all represents, in the collective imagination, the symbol of technological innovation; it has become, over the last thirty years, a prestigious global brand, endowed with an impressive media reputation, and a financial capitalization comparable to the economic maneuver of a medium-sized Western country. For this reason, a possible invasion of new territories by this technology giant always arouses some concern in possible competitors who fear the entry of a bulky competitor. In this regard, in this period there are increasingly insistent rumors that speak of an alleged interest of Apple in the automotive sector. Many rumors would, in fact, the Cupertino giant interested in the development of an innovative vehicle, the so-called “Apple Car”. These rumors have begun to disturb the dreams of the CEOs of the automotive majors, who fear the breakthrough of a strong competitor, capable of revolutionizing their reference market. During the recent Geneva Motor Show, in the statements released by the main operators in the sector, the concern regarding the alleged launch of a new Apple car was clearly read.
Continental and Apple: a combination hoped for by the CEO of the German auto components giant.
If, therefore, the major car brands such as Ford, BMW, FCA or Renault await the evolution of these rumors with some concern, the same thing is not happening for a large component and spare parts firm such as Continental (more well-known perhaps for its excellent car tires – https://www.gomme-auto.it/pneumatici/continental). The German manufacturer, active in the sector of tires, auto parts and technological components, has announced, through the voice of its CEO Elmar Degenhart, that it is interested in establishing a technological collaboration with the apple brand, hoping to be able to actively participate in the development of this innovative project. This statement, according to Reuters, was released by the head of Continental on the sidelines of the recent conference call for the presentation of the company’s quarterly accounts; on this occasion Degenhart expressed positive words about the possible launch of an Apple car, the company’s great media reputation, together with the impressive financial resources it possesses, are characteristics that give a broad guarantee of success to this important and ambitious project. And indeed Continental would seem to be one of the most suitable partners for a project of this size; in fact it operates in many technological sectors, all linked to the automotive sector, such as: the tire sector, where the German brand has a worldwide reputation: the sectors of safety technologies, chassis and technological components. In each of these areas, Continental’s innovative productions reach the highest levels of quality.
Apple’s new challenge, electric car and autonomous driving?
Continental has previous experience in the electric vehicle sector having collaborated in the creation of the lithium-ion batteries proposed by A123 Systems. Company, the latter, which jumped to the headlines some time ago for having sued Apple, accusing it of having stolen engineers from him. But it is recent news that Apple is thinking of an amicable resolution of the dispute, this unexpected opening highlights a strong interest of Apple in maintaining good relations with a reference company in the field of electric cars, thus confirming the hypothesis. of an upcoming commitment by apple in the electric vehicle sector. To further confirm, rumors have recently spread about an alleged top-secret laboratory where the Apple car is being studied, many claim to have seen mysterious vans carrying technological equipment for mapping territorial data. These vehicles were reported to have been spotted in the San Francisco Bay Area, and according to many they were vans used by Apple as part of a top-secret project to build an electric self-driving car. The most informed have even unbalanced themselves by assuming for this car the launch on the markets by 2020.
