Apple iV Rendering Previews the Tech Giant's Elusive and Yet-to-Be-Confirmed Car

Seriously now, this mythical car made by the Cupertino-based company has been imagined in every way possible, from a super-fast hypercar to a mostly bland compact-sized urban dweller; for all we know, every one of those variations could be the closest to the real thing. If there is a real thing.

We wouldn't be surprised to hear the families of everyone working on this project are being kept at a black site because it's hard to imagine how a project of this magnitude and importance has been kept completely under the wraps for so long. It's either that or there is no Apple car. We'd really hate for the latter to be the case, so we hope that black site has a beach and a spa, and everyone is having a great time.

So, in the absence of any concrete information, everyone is free to imagine what this vehicle from the iPhone maker would look like. Before going into any design details, that means deciding on one of the many segments in the automotive industry.

The easy choice would be an SUV—everyone seems to want one, so why take any risks? On the other hand, Tesla has proven there is still room for sedans with the Model S and Model 3, the first two EVs it has built its reputation on. And then there's the obvious performance-oriented option, much like what Croatian startup Rimac is doing.

Emre Husmen, an independent automotive designer from Turkey, seems to think Apple will go for a people-mover instead. Granted, many Tesla fans have been asking Elon Musk for one, but it's hard to imagine a van would be a good way to introduce the fledgling brand to the world. There's nothing glamorous about a van; in fact, it's the epitome of practicality.

It all comes down to the way we look at the industry. Do we see it through today's eyes, where people continue to buy their cars, drive them, and enjoy doing so? Or do we think about the dreaded future where everything is shared and AI-controlled vehicles can drive themselves? Well, it doesn't really matter how we look at it as much as the way Apple does it.

Emre seems to think it will be the latter if his concept is anything to go by. In the short rationale that accompanies the dozens of rendered images, the artist details his project revealing a few key (and somewhat contradicting) facts about the iV.

First of all, the name is not the Roman numeral for "four," so it should be read "eye-vee". As someone who's just had surgery, that brings back some unwanted memories, but we guess the "I" stands for "Intelligent" whereas the "V" could mean both "Van" or "Vehicle." Either way, it's the "intelligent" part that matters the most.

The iV is five meters long (196.85"), so it's shorter than a Chevrolet Tahoe, for example, or a Chrysler Pacifica. It also only has five seats, though, which could be a turn-off for some people hoping the EV architecture would open the possibility of a much roomier interior. To make matters worse, it has a 1+2+2 configuration, meaning the driver sits dead-center—a position worthy of a vehicle a lot more engaging for the driver.

Its wheels, however, are very much EV-specific: they are huge in diameter (26 inches, to be exact), but appear to be quite thin. Their design reminds us of a meat grinder grille disc, but that's not to say it's not somehow appealing. We just can't shake the feeling some delicious red meat mixed with fat will come pouring out of those holes every minute, and we have a sudden craving for hamburgers.

The rest of the design is pretty generic and, if you ask us, rather "Japanese-looking." Emre says he has "applied <<Apple styling>> to its exterior design", yet apart from the color resembling that of a MacBook Pro, we can't really see much else.

There's no doubt the Apple iV would make an excellent autonomous shuttle, especially for those with an iPhone that could take full advantage of the vehicle's connectivity features (which we don't know anything about but can imagine would be ample). However, it would also be a pretty bland and unspectacular entry into the industry for a company that has so far successfully stayed away from these two epithets. No, even if Apple does launch an autonomous electric shuttle, we expect something a lot more exciting from them.