Apple no longer building an electric car.

[Batman]

Apple is getting ready to buy Rivian at $25 mark

Oh I hope so. For Rivian and my bag holding. Mainly for my bag holding

Sponsored

 

[jeeden]

But what about those of us who shit on Apple products because they suck but love our Rivians?

Did someone call me? Haha

I don't really like apple products but I do respect their business and am a stock holder with them.

It's so hard to guess what any of these companies will do because they are so big. Amazon or Apple could buy ALL the airlines, shipping companies (UPS etc), or car manufacturers and instantly own an entire INDUSTRY and the expenditure would barely register on their balance sheets.

I would much rather see Amazon invest further into Rivian than anyone else as I agree it is a better fit and the relationship is already there. While there might be investment, I don't think I see an acquisition as Amazon is basically too big to acquire any company out there (maybe Nvidia?)it isn't worth their time. I think the only case to be made is that Rivian would be a new market for Amazon and a complimentary one for them with the shipping vans, chargers, battery tech, etc. I

I think the car industry is already being disrupted though and Amazon has their eyes on bigger fish like single handedly eliminating all the insurance companies out there and disrupting... Health care

 

[dleewla]

But what about those of us who shit on Apple products because they suck but love our Rivians?

go buy a CT

 

[COCORIVIAN]

Apple is going to buy Rivian. It’s a perfect target at the moment.

It will keep Rivian afloat beyond 2025 and allow Apple to integrate CarPlay seamlessly without competition. With the billions of dollars that Apple has invested in R&D already, it will be a win win for both companies to get ahead.

 

[Hillbilly]

I've had my truck less than a year and have over 25k miles on it. I'm assuming a lease would be a no go for hi mileage folks.

 

[s00n]

https://appleinsider.com/articles/2...-should-buy-rivian-after-cancelling-apple-car

s00n.

 

[Dark-Fx]

But what about those of us who shit on Apple products because they suck but love our Rivians?

You can buy some of these to put over the logo.

 

[Redline]

I'd actually love if Apple bought Rivian.

Also, pretty telling that a few people left Apple for Rivian recently.

 

[howler99]

Oh man, I'm in the don't like Apple but love my Rivian, camp. Apple doesn't seem like a growth company any longer, so they definitely need something new to grow revenues. On the other hand, a boutique truck/SUV company doesn't seem like their style, and not sure the revenues would move the needle enough.

They also like to use their monopolistic strength to push around customers. I'm not sure that will work in the EV market unless Elon is ready to sell . As soon as they require you to use the app store, iTunes etc, on my Rivian, I'm selling.

 

[gregtay]

Owning a car company doesn't bring any value to Apple... in fact it probably hurts their efforts in the long run. The "win" for Apple is owning the software and telematics in a car. The actual vehicle is simply a means to own the software and related services revenue. Apple has essentially accomplished this goal with Carplay in 95% of the cars sold today... without every having to build a factory or a single vehicle. So Apple already won. They are now in a dominate position (difficult to sell cars without Carplay to the average consumer) so they can now dictate what car manufactures must do (provide more access to screens, data, functions, etc). If Apple announced their own car today they would have that big car manufactures thinking twice about Carplay integration or doing anything Apple wants them to do.

Let's say fully autonomous cars/taxi's become a thing. Apple will likely be the one delivering the software for the services and keeping a percentage of every ride. And they will do it with software that has a 98% contribution margin vs. the production hell that Telsa and Rivian have faced as start ups.

 

[defcon888]

Yeah would make sense for Apple with their resources.

That is an interesting thought, but just because Apple can design computers, and phones, watches etc. doesn't mean they can design/run a car company. Now, if Tim Cook took it in the direction of Elon Musk and branched it off into a Space X and "X" model, maybe. I for one don't want to be driving an "iCar" or an "iRivian" or worse....."CyberTruck"

 

[RedCanyon]

They were never planning to manufacture the vehicle themselves but always looked at partnerships with existing manufacturing companies. It's their model for all of their hardware, of course, so sure, that's what they would do for a car, right? There were reports of them talking to at least Hyundai-Kia and VW about having them build the vehicle for Apple. Foxconn has also started getting into vehicle manufacturing and is obviously well-known to Apple. But it's just a whole different ballgame compared to phones, tablets, laptops, etc.

As far as acquiring another company goes, I think Rivian is more likely to be acquired by Amazon than Apple, not just because of their existing relationship but also because it feels like a better fit for Amazon anyway.

I believe this is the issue: What worked for Apple—outsourcing manufacturing—doesn't work well for automobiles. Unlike Tesla, which Rivian is now attempting to emulate, Tesla has full control over hardware, software, the supply chain, and manufacturing... it's a lot. There's a video by Jim Farley discussing the challenges OEMs faced due to outsourcing everything to the lowest bidder, resulting in a thousand different components each running their own software—software they didn't own or control, leading to components that couldn't communicate with each other.

It's fascinating that a company like Apple could spend so many years and so much money only to decide "...oh, never mind" in the end. This underscores the difficulty of building a completely new car from scratch. However, Apple's efforts have forever changed the car industry through the development of CarPlay.

Elon Musk's recent announcement about the new Roadster (0-60 < 1 second?) will be fascinating to watch. I believe we are only seeing the beginning of the innovation Tesla will ultimately deliver. How will traditional OEMs respond as Tesla continues to significantly reduce production costs? Adding a plant full of robots could create an unbeatable gap between the cost to produce a finished vehicle and the raw materials... not to mention AI and fully autonomous driving. I expect other car companies will eventually have to look at licensing autonomous driving software from Tesla, as they are now doing to access the Tesla charging network—though that is a topic for another discussion.

I've thought for a while that it would be interesting if Apple acquired Rivian. However, I'm not so sure now. Large acquisitions are not Apple's style. If they did, and fully supported RJ and his vision while augmenting their software efforts, it might work. Unfortunately, I don't expect we will ever know.

 

[SDH]

I really don't see Apple buying Rivian. Nah.

 

[DuoRivians]

IMO, Apple is far less likely to acquire Rivian after the news.

They were clear about their intentions. Generative AI profit margins can be near 80% and the market size is going to be huge, possibly increasing Apple’s market cap by another $1T or more over the years.

If you’re a Rivian shareholder, I think the only reasonable hope is that Rivian figures out quickly how to be financially successful independently

 

[Hillbilly]

You can buy some of these to put over the logo.

That company is just as bad. Worse maybe.

Sponsored