Apple, Hyundai team up in ‘zap Tesla’ bid

Apple’s plans to build a “breakthrough” electric car that could compete with Tesla appear to be heating up.

South Korean auto giant Hyundai said Friday it was having early discussions with the iPhone maker after a local broadcaster reported that the companies were hatching plans to develop self-driving electric vehicles.

“Apple and Hyundai are in discussion, but as it is early stage, nothing has been decided,” Hyundai said in a statement, without revealing what exactly the discussions are about.

The public statement was unusual given that Apple is highly secretive about its plans for future products. Hyundai on Friday appeared skittish about providing more details.

The company initially said Apple was in talks with other big automakers, but it reportedly issued a revision to its statement removing that reference. In a subsequent regulatory filing, Hyundai said only that it was “getting requests for cooperation on joint development of autonomous electric vehicles from various companies.”

The p.r. snafu didn’t stop Hyundai’s stock price from skyrocketing on the news that it was talking with Apple. The Korea-listed shares ended the day up more than 19 percent at 246,000 won, or $225.02.

Reports first emerged last month that Apple was working to produce an electric car by 2024 with a new battery design that could slash the cost of batteries and increase the vehicle’s range.

The tech titan’s talks with Hyundai are focused on developing selfdriving electric vehicles by 2027 and developing batteries at US factories run by Hyundai or its subsidiary Kia, Korea Economic Daily TV reported.