Samsung may have just thrown a wrench into Apple's car plans

Samsung announced the acquisition of Magna Steyr's battery business in a press release on Monday.

This comes a few days after reportes emerged that Apple was in talks with Magna Steyr in relation to producing an electric car.

Magna Steyr is an Austrian-based manufacturer that assembles cars for companies like Audi, Fiat, GM, and Volkswagen. It also has other businesses that design and build car parts, including battery systems for electric and hybrid vehicles.

The Samsung deal includs only Magna's battery pack business, not the manufacturing business. So Apple could still work with Magna Steyr to build the cars it designs if in fact it follows through with the project.

The acquisition comes as Apple has tried to hire away Samsung's battery experts and engineers.

Samsung didn't say how much it paid for Magna's battery business. Samsung SDI already makes batteries for BMW's electric cars.