Roger Fingas
Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche and the CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, Carlos Ghosn, have each adopted radically different stances on rumors of a so-called Apple Car, with the former dismissing the idea and the latter welcoming it as a boost to Renault-Nissan's business.
Zetsche has been quoted by Motoring.com.au as saying that an Apple Car poses little threat, a stance taken by other automotive industry players like former GM chief Dan Akerson.
"If there were a rumor that Mercedes or Daimler planned to start building smartphones then they [Apple] would not be sleepless at night. And the same applies to me," Zetsche said last month. "And this is full of respect for Apple. That is what I am saying."
Speaking with Reuters, the executive later added that he thinks companies like Apple and Google aren't interested in building full-fledged cars.
"Google and the likes want to get involved, I don't think in the first place to build vehicles," he said. "We have to understand that, and then to find our roles, to which extent they are complementary, to which extent we become dependent, to which extent we are competitors."
Ghosn, conversely, suggests that an electric Apple Car could boost Renault and Nissan's profits. He argues that Apple's entry into the market would raise awareness of electric cars in general, boosting sales of vehicles like the Nissan Leaf.
"If Apple does it, obviously it's good news for us," the CEO remarked at a Mobile World Congress keynote earlier on Monday, as reported by CNET. "The fact that a company outside of the auto industry wants to do electric cars is refreshing."
Talk of an Apple Car is still largely speculative. Previous reports claim Apple is hoping to ship a car by 2020. The project, allegedly codenamed Titan, is already pulling in robotics and battery experts in a team approaching 200 people.
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[quote name="AppleInsider" url="/t/185014/nissan-daimler-ceos-split-on-prospect-of-rumored-apple-car#post_2684383"]Ghosn, conversely, suggests that an electric Apple Car could boost Renault and Nissan's profits. He argues that Apple's entry into the market would raise awareness of electric cars in general, boosting sales of vehicles like the Nissan Leaf.[/quote] That's the kind of thing I like to hear from executives. Now, what's a Leaf?¡ PS: Coincidently, I just bought a Nissan cargo van which will be delivered tomorrow.
Not that these CEOs are as deluded nor egotistical as Ballmer was, but it's really not up to such people to pronounce anything necessarily more valid than any individual "man on the street" with some perception.
My own perceptions of the various predecessors or pretenders to the ?Watch is that they are so much silly junk in relation to the design concept of this new product from Apple. Though many of those who feel wisdom is based on price consciousness primarily will shun the product as being overpriced, it will never the less far outshine these others dramatically.
Though it is labeled a "watch" just as the iPhone was labeled a "phone" for convenience and recognizability of these never-before-seen products, the functionality and value of each will only be discovered and appreciated fully over some amount of time. The iPhone has really come into its own with the iPhone 6/6+, as will the ?Watch once it's matured and apps are created for it.
Would anyone want to trust the security of their car to any of this other crap, for example? Not me. I'm also looking forward to using ?Pay far more conveniently with my own ?Watch.
Now an ?Car would be that much better a concept, which would enable Apple to eliminate all the various arbitraries foisted on us from a century+ of Detroit automakers. It would obviously electric, and there may very well be significant new thinking going into not only the design of the car itself, but into how it's manufactured.
So why expect entrenched competitor automaker execs to have an exterior perspective from all of their vested interests?
Apple's only exploring the idea--but seriously enough, it seems, that I am intrigued! Somebody has to drag the auto industry into the future. Auto show concept cars and Elon Musk are a start, but so far not enough. A new entrant (ANY new entrant) would be welcome. I'd welcome a Google car as well; self-driving or not! (I'd prefer it be self-driving, but I'm skeptical on that happening any time soon.) P.S. I bet we're going to keep seeing the unrelated photo of the Apple Maps van every time the Apple Car rumor comes up.
Before any of the fools say Samsung is copying Apple ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Samsung_Motors
Anything that brings more exposure to BEVs (battery electric vehicles) is a positive. We are on a collision course with catastrophe if we don't switch to a sustainable transportation system. Lower gas prices actually make this imperative more urgent than ever, because lower oil prices mean more oil and gasoline burned, which is more CO2 into the air. The real cost of fossil fuels is not being reflected in the price because no penalty is paid for dumping CO2 and other noxious gasses into the atmosphere. I give Apple two thumbs up if they decide to sell a car. And this is coming from a Tesla owner. The more the merrier!