"Hyundai Motor and Kia Officially Announce Suspension of Talks with Apple"

On the 15th, the new logo of Kia Motors was displayed on the exterior wall of the Kia Motors headquarters building in Seocho-gu, Seoul. The new logo removes the previous red oval border and presents the letters "KIA" in a simple and futuristic style. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] Hyundai Motor Group officially announced on the 8th that "we are not in discussions with Apple regarding the development of autonomous vehicles."

Hyundai Motor, Kia, Hyundai Mobis, and other major affiliates of Hyundai Motor Group stated on the morning of the same day, "We have received requests for joint development cooperation related to autonomous electric vehicles from multiple companies, but no decisions have been made at this early stage," and "We are not in discussions with Apple regarding the development of autonomous vehicles." ▷Related article on page 4

Earlier, Hyundai Motor and Kia had responded to media reports last month about ongoing discussions with Apple on the development of the ‘Apple Car’ by saying, "No decisions have been made." However, they did not deny the existence of discussions with Apple at that time. Consequently, the market interpreted that cooperation between the two companies had progressed significantly. However, by stating on this day that negotiations with Apple on autonomous vehicles are not underway, it appears that cooperation has effectively been halted. Related stocks also plunged. As of 11:09 a.m. that day, Hyundai Motor was trading at 236,000 KRW, down 5.41%, and Kia was trading at 88,100 KRW, down sharply by 13.30%.

In the automotive industry, although negotiations between Hyundai Motor, Kia, and Apple have been temporarily suspended, it is expected that they could resume at any time. Since there are not many automakers worldwide with the capability or production facilities to mass-produce the Apple Car on Apple’s behalf, it is analyzed that Apple may reach out again once the issue quiets down. Lee Hang-gu, Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Automotive Research Institute, said, "Since the actual Apple Car has not yet materialized, negotiations could proceed in a different direction at any time," adding, "However, it should be considered that Hyundai Motor is in a defensive position in negotiations with Apple."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.