April 19, 2024
Former GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz Says Apple Car Will Be a 'Gigantic Money Pit' [Video]

Former GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz Says Apple Car Will Be a 'Gigantic Money Pit' [Video]

Posted September 22, 2015 at 5:42pm by iClarified
Former GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said he thinks that Apple getting into the electric car market is a huge mistake. Lutz voiced his opinion in an interview with CNBC.

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Is Apple doing the right thing here entering this market?
No, I don't think so. If I were a shareholder I would be very upset because they are currently engaged in a very high margin business. The automobile business at best is a very low margin business. You can't show me one company in the world that to date has made a nickel on electric cars. They are generally money losers and the only reason that everybody is producing them is because they are necessary to meet European fuel economy regulations and U.S. fuel economy regulations. There is absolutely no reason to assume that Apple is going to be financially successful in the electric car business.

Do you think they are going to be able to bring some sort of approach to it, given their experience in batteries and consumer devices, that's at all going to change the economics of this in the next couple years?
No. First of all, Apple has no expertise in batteries. They don't make batteries. The specialized electro-chemical companies make batteries and Apple's going to buy batteries like everybody else and when it comes to actually making cars, there's no reason to assume that Apple with no experience will suddenly do a better job than General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota, or Hyundai. I think this is going to be a gigantic money pit.
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Take a look at the video below for more of the interview. The interview follows a recent report which claims that the Apple Car is now a committed project with a target ship date in 2019. Please follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS for updates.




Former GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz Says Apple Car Will Be a 'Gigantic Money Pit' [Video]
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Comments (3)
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eric123hu
eric123hu - February 27, 2016 at 12:26am
I am the only one here that feels this way, but I have to agree. Making cars is not a hugely profitable business, especially electric cars. Tesla, is a great example ...they are much like Apple in that they came on the scene w/ no car experience or history. They have made a nice car, but it is priced very high ($100k+) so most can't afford it and the company isn't profitable at this point. They have spent a fortune to get to where they are. It costs a hell of a lot of money to bring a single car to market, -it has to under go so many tests to get to production that it will cost Apple easily a billion or more. The obvious point, they don't have the car experience or history, ...so yes its a long shot for them. Sorry, I just don't see them making something that no one else has been able to do. To be hugely successful you'll have to make a $30k electric car with range of 200miles or more. Batteries are the key, they are expensive and keep the costs of electric cars high, hence why none of the big co's have been able to crack that nut yet. Apple doesn't make batteries, so not sure what they have up their sleeve or why they think their attempt will be better. Get real, they made a great phone, ...but that is it. Their computers are over priced and have all the same insides as a PC for a third of the cost. There is nothing special about Mac computers.
Techno
Techno - September 22, 2015 at 11:51pm
And you would be from where? Europe: where land is so govern so much by the government that you have to drive small cars? Korea? China? Japan? Really? American made products are design to last and are not money pit on contrast to anything Europe makes. Japan is coming on strong but historicly not much to brag about.
HeisenbergXM
HeisenbergXM - September 22, 2015 at 7:08pm
GM is scared because they know what Apple does to any market they touch. Apple will be getting their batteries from Tesla, driving down their cost.
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