Will Apple’iCar’ or LG’ThinCar’ really come out?
A major wave is expected as companies that make electronic products announce that they will enter the automobile industry.
Due to the blurring of the boundaries between automobiles and electronic products, competition for supremacy of electric vehicles is not the only story of existing automakers.
On the 23rd, LG Electronics decided to establish a joint venture (Joint Venture JV) with Magna International, a Canadian electric vehicle parts maker. ‘LG Magna’ (tentative name), which produces electric vehicle powertrain (power transmission system), is scheduled to be launched in July next year.
On the same day, through foreign media such as Reuters, the news that the US information technology (IT) company Apple will introduce the self-driving electric vehicle’Apple Car’ in 2024 was reported. For example, it is planning to release’Ika’, similar to electronic devices such as iPhone and iPad.
The finished car industry is in a position to watch as the two electronics companies enter the electric vehicle business.
This is why it is difficult to keep up with the design and production know-how accumulated over decades and the infrastructure built over a long period of time even if an electric vehicle is a’electronic product with wheels’.
However, it is not easy to see that some can not lightly view the entry of electronic companies into the electric vehicle business.
Right now, LG Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of LG Group, is the largest company in the global electric vehicle battery market. In addition, if LG Magna produces core parts such as electric motors, inverters, and reducers, it is not limited to supplying them to finished vehicle manufacturers, and there is no possibility to make electric vehicles directly.
In addition, Apple is a global software powerhouse that has built an independent and powerful IT ecosystem through smartphones, tablets, and laptops such as iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It is not possible to rule out the possibility that Apple will gradually expand its business territories, such as autonomous driving software and automotive electronic equipment (electronic equipment) sectors in the future.
Tesla, an electric vehicle maker in the US, is a representative example of a company that took the lead in electric vehicles as a company other than an internal combustion engine car manufacturer. Tesla proved that the status of the companies that brought the internal combustion engine car era into the electric car era can be different from the past.
An official from the automaker said, “Whether it is LG, Apple, or the existing automobile industry, it is difficult to predict at this time because there are numerous variables in the future car market.”
Global Economic Reporter Sung Sang-young [email protected]