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Comment by giacaglia | Hacker News Reader

Apple entering the space would benefit consumers, but if Apple can't deliver a simple power mat (Airpower), it is hard to believe that they would be able to develop a car. Doug Field left Tesla probably because he couldn't scale the manufacturing plant for them. Apple doesn't build the hardware themselves but hires third-parties to do it, like Foxconn. It would be hard to imagine a company designing cars and letting third-parties build for them

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Actually, it's more common than you think for a major brand to design a car and outsource the building to a third party or even to outsource the whole design and development of a model entirely.

For example, Magna Steyr builds the E-Pace for Jaguar, the Countryman for Mini and the G-Wagon for Daimler in Graz, Austria. It also developed several cars on behalf of manufacturers such as the Audi TT, Fiat Bravo and Peugeot RCZ[1].

There were even rumors in Graz that execs from Cupertino have flown here to discuss the possibility of Magna building a car for Apple.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Steyr

Apple won't outsource its products design to someone else. That's not Apple

Apple is not a person or a single-thinking entity

The comment you’re replying to doesn’t say anything about outsourcing design.

“PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in.”

> It would be hard to imagine a company designing cars and letting third-parties build for them

TFA said they have (or speculatively have, don't remember?) a partnership with VW so it wouldn't be too far fetched for an Apple branded VW robocar in the works. Extra props for it being on the microbus platform[0].

[0]https://www.businessinsider.com/vw-microbus-launching-in-202...

I imagine there are multiple companies would be more than willing to build cars for Apple at the right price. Companies that really know what they’re doing.

I bet Honda, Toyota, or maybe forward would be happy to do it for the right price. As long as they don’t think Apple is too big of a competitor it seems like a win-win. And since we all know Apple is going to be focusing on the high-end/luxury segment it might be worth their while.

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