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Bob Lutz Calls The Idea Of An Apple Car A ‘Money Pit’

According to former General Motors executive, Bob Lutz, Apple is foolish to try and enter the automotive foray with the rumored Apple Car, assumed to be an all-electric vehicle.

Lutz made the comments during a CNBC interview this past Monday, responding to reports Apple has doubled-down on its automotive efforts to introduce an electric-vehicle by 2019.

“Apple has no experience,” Lutz said. “There’s no reason to assume Apple will do a better job than General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota or Hyundai. I think this is going to be a gigantic money pit.”

This comes after Lutz previously commented on the future of transport, stating Google and Apple were poised to be top dogs.

Lutz also stated no one has actually made a profit on their electric vehicle programs just yet, and dismissed the success of such a project.

As Fortune points out, Apple has heard similar comments before, specifically before the unveiling of the first iPhone. We all know how that turned out.

If Apple does follow through, the competition will be more fierce than ever. Chevrolet is quickly approaching Bolt production, Tesla is working to introduce its Model 3 and other competitors continue to eye up a portion of the EV market.

Could the Apple Car be the kind of disruption the industry needs? Or, is Apple wasting its capital on such a project. By 2019, we’ll know.

Former GM Authority staff writer.

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Comments

  1. After the Pope speech about global warming today and if Apple can get the church’s blessing they would be in fat city

    Reply
  2. Apple has a money pit. The largest company in the world has cash reserves large enough to buy the entire auto industry. I can and will be a major disruptor.

    Reply
    1. So they will buy Nissan and rename the Leaf as the “Titan”.

      Reply
  3. Apple has the money and time to do this. I suspect they have a silent partner in this too with one of the MFGs. It would be funny if it were GM.

    I have observed which companies are working closest with Apple on other systems to see if there may be more going on.

    Apple will need the volume purchasing of a larger partner to do this and still sell at a reasonable price.

    As for the Pope all the hysteria will vanish once he is gone. I bet confessions are up today too.

    Reply
  4. Wow, Lutz. Way to Lead….

    This is the attitude that constantly has GM playing catch up to the other automotives – you THINK that you know better than anyone else, and you’re just not smart enough to figure out you don’t know everything.

    I have watched over the years as GM has fallen behind the times with some crappy designs and terrible close-minded attitude… Your trucks are still excellent, and some special vehicles like the corvette continue to live up to expectations, but other than that your vehicles are by and large, ugly and outdated.

    I am not an Apple fan boy by any means, but some of the smartest folks in the WORLD work there. It’s silly to underestimate them on any level.

    I seriously doubt that Apple would actually try to MANUFACTURE the car themselves, more likely they will find someone else to do the chassis and powertrain, and they will do the controls and industrial design so it’s like an Apple product…

    Instead of poo-pooing their radical idea, you could have offered to be the one to manufacture it and give GM a leg up on the “cool” factor of doing something futuristic and current.

    Good Luck to them, and also to you, Mr Lutz. I think you’re going to need it.

    Reply
    1. You know Lutz no longer is a GM employee

      Reply
  5. I really admire and respect Bob Lutz, but he needs to be very careful to avoid embarrassing GM. His comments have become the laughing stock of tech. journalists and (especially for those who don’t pick up on the “former” part of his title) make it appear that GM is as oblivious to possible competition from Apple as Palm was when Ed Colligan said “PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.”

    There are many reasons Apple might be interested in building a car, they have vast experience with battery technology, and they’re very skilled in working with suppliers and manufacturers to efficiently manage their supply chain. GM (and the rest off the auto industry) should be very concerned about Apple’s possible entry into the industry and should be doing everything they possibly can to improve their products so they’re competitive with whatever Apple might decide to build.

    I also agree with Dr. Ball that GM would be smart to work towards a partnership with Apple in terms of US production capacity in a way that doesn’t come back to haunt them, enabling Apple to build on its initial success by taking production elsewhere and leaving GM empty-handed.

    Reply
  6. If VW was smart, they’d partner with Apple as soon as yesterday (or if Apple wanted to spend some of that cash they were sitting on and buy VW) VW gets back in the good books in the public eye, likely a higher profile then before diesel-gate, and Apple gets the manufacturing partner; a partner where Apple can dictate their aggressive terms (as they do for most of their suppliers) given VW’s downward terrible situation they’ve put themselves in.

    Reply

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