Well-connected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, now working for TF International Securities, sent a new investor note out on Tuesday, saying Apple will launch their much-rumored “Apple Car” sometime between 2023 and 2025.
According to Kuo, Apple will launch an Apple Car sometime between 2023 and 2025, with the car set to be positioned as “the next star product.” Kuo foresees the Apple Car revolutionizing the automobile market much as the iPhone did back in 2007.
Kuo believes that the auto business is in the process of being redefined with new technologies, leading to “huge replacement demands. Apple’s work in technologies such as augmented reality could redefine the auto industry and differentiate the Apple Car from peers’ products.”
Kuo says Apple’s “better integration of hardware, software, and services” allows them to outperform competitors in the consumer electronics marketplace, and could help them outperform other companies in the auto sector. Apple’s services category could benefit from entering the car finance market once the Apple Car is launched.
We expect that Apple Car, which will likely be launched in 2023–2025, will be the next star product. The reasons for this are as follows: (1) Potentially huge replacement demands are emerging in the auto sector because it is being redefined by new technologies. The case is the same as the smartphone sector 10 years ago; (2) Apple’s leading technology advantages (e.g. AR) would redefine cars and differentiate Apple Car from peers’ products; (3) Apple’s service will grow significantly by entering the huge car finance market via Apple Car, and (4) Apple can do a better integration of hardware, software, and service than current competitors in the consumer electronics sector and potential competitors in the auto sector.
Kuo’s predictions fly in the face of recent rumors that indicate Apple has “steered” away from their initial intent to build an Apple-branded vehicle. Rumors have indicated the Cupertino firm would instead focus on designing autonomous driving software for cars.
Apple’s autonomous vehicle project, dubbed “Project Titan,” was begun in 2014, but has been faced with leadership problems, internal strife, and other issues that have slowed the program’s development.
