Apple is suffering a setback in its expansion into the car market. According to “Handelsblatt” both BMW and Daimler reject a partnership with the IT giant.
BMW headquarters in Munich
Thursday, 21.04.2016
10:56
The US company
Apple
apparently failed with his attempt, along with
BMW
or
Daimler
to build a car. Appropriate negotiations are over,
reports the “Handelsblatt”
citing industrial circles. Now Apple is looking for new partners for the construction of an iCar. As a favorite for a contract manufacturing is the Canadian-Austrian supplier group Magna
,
The talks with BMW over a collaboration had failed last year, most recently then Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche ended negotiations with Apple, the newspaper reported. In each case, a highly networked electric car with the capability for semi-autonomous driving had been planned.
In addition to the question of the industrial leadership of the project, the question of data sovereignty was a sticking point of the talks, writes the “Handelsblatt”. While Apple wanted to integrate the car very closely into its iCloud, the Germans would have wanted to make their customers’ privacy the cornerstone of their future strategy.
Daimler, BMW, Apple and Magna did not want to comment on the report on request.
Apple wants to win now above all German technology and German specialists for the project, are called it in the report. Accordingly, the Americans are looking for suppliers for lightweight construction and sensor technology. In addition, Apple operates an office in Berlin, which is among other things in search of German specialists.