BMW's CFO said he's not worried about the threat of Apple's rumored electric vehicle. 'I sleep very peacefully,' he said.
- BMW CFO Nicolas Peter told Bloomberg the automaker wasn't worried about Apple's rumored electric car.
- Apple reportedly plans to build a self-driving EV by 2024, but has made no public announcements.
- "I sleep very peacefully," Peter told Bloomberg. BMW sells the lowest-cost electric car in the US.
BMW's chief finance officer said the German carmaker was not concerned with the prospect of Apple launching a rival electric vehicle.
"I sleep very peacefully," Nicolas Peter told Bloomberg when asked about Apple's rumored plans.
Apple plans to build a self-driving electric car by 2024 and has held talks with Hyundai, Kia, and Nissan about partnering, according to multiple reports.
The tech giant has made no public announcements about its self-driving car project, which is internally known as "Project Titan," though it has recently patented some vehicle features.
"Competition is a wonderful thing - it helps motivate the others," Peter told Bloomberg.
BMW started selling the Mini Electric in 2020, which is the lowest-cost electric car currently available in the US, Insider's Tim Levin reported.
"We're in a very strong position and we want to remain in a leading position of the industry," Peter added.
His comments echo those made less than a month ago by Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess, who said his company was "not afraid" of Apple's car plans.
"The car industry is not a typical tech sector that you could take over at a single stroke," Diess told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. "Apple will not manage that overnight."
Apple's talks to collaborate with South Korean Hyundai and Kia on the car were put on hold after news leaked of the potential partnership, Bloomberg reported. The companies had planned to sign a deal by March that would lead to a "beta" version of an Apple electric vehicle as early as 2022, local media reported, though Hyundai execs were said to be wary of the partnership.
Apple also approached Japanese carmaker Nissan about making an autonomous vehicle together, but the talks collapsed after they clashed over branding, sources told The Financial Times.
Electric-car startup Fisker, meanwhile, announced in February it would work with Apple supplier Foxconn to produce more than 250,000 vehicles a year, beginning in late 2023.
Peter also told Bloomberg that BMW had no set plans to stop manufacturing combustion-engine cars.
General Motors, the US' largest automaker, said it would end all sales of gas-powered vehicles by 2035, and Jaguar Land Rover said it would go all-electric by 2039.
"We need to be in a position to move with the market," Peter said. "There are announcements coming left, right and center, and I think the important thing is being able to react to customer demand."
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