Hyundai, Apple Said To Be Ready For Electric Car Agreement By March

Hyundai Motor and Apple are set to make a new agreement on electric cars by March, Reuters writes, citing local newspaper Korea IT News.

The companies will likely start production by 2024.

The report follows a statement from last week where Hyundai Motor said it was in early talks with Apple, after a local media outlet had reported that the two were aiming at 2027 for a launch of the car. That announcement sent Hyundai shares up 20 percent.

The companies were short on details in the wake of that incident, with Hyundai just saying it was still looking at cooperating with a company and had received various offers, and Apple refusing to comment at all.

A previous IT report said the companies were planning to use the Kia Motors factory in Germany or invest together on a new U.S.-based factory to make 100,000 vehicles by 2024, with a full annual capacity of 400,000 vehicles. The report also said the companies would be working on a “beta version” of the Apple cars to release next year.

However, an updated version of that report removed the details, including those of the production location, the capacity and the timeframe for signing the agreement as well as launching the pilot vehicles, Reuters writes.

PYMNTS reported in December on Apple’s eye toward launching a car, which could come with innovative battery technology that could reduce the cost of batteries as well as boosting the range of the vehicle.

Apple’s automotive effort, Project Titan, has been working in fits and starts for years, finally seeming to get off the ground as Doug Field, a veteran of Apple who’d gone to work at Tesla, returned to the project.

The aforementioned surge in Hyundai stocks can be related to other electric car projects such as those done by Tesla, PYMNTS writes, which has gone up in value to almost $700 billion.