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.
-
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.
-
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.