■Hyundai Motor·Apple’Stop discussion’
Apple feels a lot of pressure as media attention grows
Analysis of Suspension for Negotiation Advantage
Concerns about Hyundai Motor’s’degradation to subcontractor’
Disclosure of electric vehicles… Room for cooperation
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Hyundai Motor Group announced its official position on the 8th, saying, “We are not conducting discussions on self-driving cars” on the idea of cooperation with Apple. First, a line was drawn on how to cooperate with Apple for autonomous vehicles. However, in the industry, discussions related to the Apple Car have once subsided, but there are observations that the embers can survive anytime.
Hyundai Motor Company, Kia-Hyundai Mobis announced on the day that “a number of companies are receiving requests for cooperation in joint development of self-driving electric vehicles, but it has not been decided in an early stage.” “We have not been discussing the development of autonomous vehicles with Apple.” did. Look at the main issues.
Weight on negotiation suspension
After the rumors of cooperation with Apple emerged last month, the Hyundai Motor Group has consistently maintained a positive and non-negative attitude. In the first public announcement after the cooperation theory, the discussion itself was not denied, such as stating that “there is a request for cooperation in joint development of self-driving electric vehicles from many companies, but it has not been decided in an early stage”. Considering this, many experts have come up with an analysis that “there would have been discussions.” Kim Jin-woo, a researcher at Korea Investment & Securities, said, “It is reasonable to interpret it as the context that we discussed in the past but not now.” Comprehensive reports from the US CNBC that’the negotiations with the Hyundai Motor Group and the autonomous driving Apple car are in the final stage’ and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that’Kia is in contact with potential partners related to the Apple car’ are fueled by such observations.
Did Apple secrecy work?
The reason for the cessation of discussion is the burden of breaking Apple’s’secretism’. Apple is known for sticking to a thorough secrecy strategy for transactions with partners and the content of new products. It is possible that Apple has determined that it is difficult to continue the discussion with the majority of the media showing interest. Bloomberg News also reported that “Apple was upset because the secret was not kept, and discussions stopped.”
Hyundai Motor stopped due to subcontract concerns?
It is possible that Hyundai Motor Group also decided that there was no reason to be attracted to cooperation with Apple. Hyundai Motor Group is one of the few automakers that have a dedicated electric vehicle platform (E-GMP) along with Volkswagen, General Motors (GM), and Geely. It is ranked 5th in the world in automobile mass production capacity, has a production capacity of about 1.07 million vehicles annually in North America alone, and maintains the 4th place in the world for eco-friendly car sales.
Hyundai Motor Group has independently developed autonomous driving technology by establishing a joint venture worth 4 billion dollars (about 4.5 trillion won) with Aptiv, a US autonomous driving company. In this situation, the Hyundai Motor Group decided that it was not necessary to cling to Apple, taking the risk of’subcontractor collapse’ or’brand erosion’. In fact, in the industry, it has been steadily pointed out that if the Apple car production method is similar to the’Foxcon model’, this is not desirable for Hyundai Motor Group.
Why did the electric car expression on the public announcement?
However, it is difficult to analyze that the possibility of cooperation between Hyundai Motor Group and Apple remains. In the announcement that’there is no discussion on the development of self-driving vehicles,’ the missing part of the word’electric vehicle’ leaves a strange lingering effect. Researcher Kim said, “It is unclear whether it is intentional, but it is a phrase that reminds me of whether we are discussing’electric vehicles’.” It is not clear whether the negotiations with Apple will be temporarily suspended or whether it will be complete. Lee Hang-gu, a research fellow at the Korea Automobile Research Institute, said, “There are several stages in autonomous driving, and the possibility of cooperation in various areas such as infotainment remains.”
/ Reporter Kim Neung-hyun [email protected], reporter Park Han-shin [email protected]
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