Foxconn announced the purchase of its first electric vehicle production base in North America on May 12th. The announcement had led some market observers to believe that it will become Apple’s main manufacturing partner for the long-rumored Apple Car. However, an anonymous analyst has recently argued that the Austrian automotive contract manufacturer, Magna Steyr, is actually the more likely candidate due to its rich car-making experiences for auto brands.
The analyst pointed out that Apple plans to debut 2 models of the Apple Car in 2025, which are currently codenamed T1 and T2. The T1's price is estimated to be around 100K USD, while the T2's price is estimated to be 60K USD. To launch the Apple Car by 2025, Apple will need to have its official manufacturing partner decided by October 2022. In addition, Apple will need to have car-making factories in North America, Asia, and Europe.
According to the analyst, although Foxconn has successfully bought an EV manufacturing base in North America, it does not have any EV production bases in Europe and Asia. Magna, which manufactures vehicles for Porsche, is believed to be the candidate contract manufacturer with the biggest chance of working with Apple due to its production and location advantages.
Outsiders might be curious about Luxshare Precision's role in the Apple Car partnership. Like Foxconn, Luxshare is a supplier of Apple products. According to some sources, Luxshare wants to become the primary supplier for the Apple Car too, and it is frequently working to make it happen. Although Luxshare's joint venture with the China-based EV-making Chery Group in February shows that it is interested in EVs, it is believed that Luxshare's partnership with Chery came too late for it to win the first waves of orders for the Apple Car.
(Photo credit: shutterstock)
