There have been rumors of an Apple Car for several years now, and the big question is this: Is Apple really going to make a car?

The Case Why Apple Won't Make a Car

Apple is very successful at making its iPhone and selling millions upon millions of them every year. They have succeeded, making an app store and taking 30% of developer profits (after $100,000). Apple is definitely a tech company.

Apple missed on its revenue and gave low guidance for further growth in 2023. After the departure of Steve Jobs, Apple became a company entrenched in its existing product lines - the iPhone and iPad. Little improvements here and there have been made to these products, but innovation in new areas or radical improvements have been missing.

To make cars, Apple would have to start building factories to build these cars. I am not aware of any factories that Apple is building to make cars. Until I see announcements like this, I have to assume an Apple car is not coming. There have been rumors that Apple would have the cars built in Japan, but I haven't seen those substantiated.

Apple cannot compete with Tesla in making cars at all, and I see Apple not being able to make cars unless they invest a large amount of their capital in a factory and get working on prototypes that are actually on the roads. Designing a car isn't enough - they need to get a product into the hands of people.

This is why I don't think Apple will make a car - they are too stagnated as a company and lack the vision of someone like Steve Jobs or Elon Musk.

How Apple Could Succeed Making a Car

Could Apple succeed in making a car? Yes, they can succeed, but it is going to take a radical shift in the company's culture. First, the company must become a company focused on innovation rather than little improvements in their phones and iPads. Those are great products, but they aren't making them much better than they were years ago.

If Apple can shift toward a culture of innovation, then they can START to think about making a car, which should be a giant iPhone on wheels. Everything about the Apple car, if it is made, should be made to have a user experience that is just like using their phone, but with a car.

Apple should stop buying back stock and, instead, use that cash for investments into factories and battery supply agreements if it wants to make a car. If we start to get news that Apple is making agreements with companies for batteries and building its own factories, then they can succeed with a car.

Apple will not succeed in making a car if it tries to outsource all the manufacturing of the car. The reason Tesla is so successful with its cars is that everything is vertically integrated. Tesla will need to do the same and use its cash to hire the best engineers.

Only, most of them are already at Tesla... An Apple car is doable by Apple, but it's 2023 now and there are none of them on the roads...

Do you think Apple will make a car?