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Toyota on the Apple Car: It Must Be Here to Stay

Apple hasn’t said a single word about a possible expansion in the automotive industry, yet everybody knows the tech giant is working on it, with the first car projected to hit the shelves by 2024 or 2025.
Apple Car concept 1 photo
Photo: Concept Creator on YouTube
All the rumors pointing to an Apple Car currently being worked on have generated mixed reactions from traditional automakers, with several of them, including BMW and Volkswagen, already acknowledging that a tech company investing in this industry is welcome, though this won’t affect their business in any way.

Now it’s Toyota’s turn to discuss Apple’s first steps in the car business, with President Akio Toyoda saying recently during a conference that the Cupertino-based tech behemoth should be fully committed to cars in the long term if it really wants to explore this sector.

Anyone can make a car if they have the technical ability, but, once they make a car, I hope they’ll recognize they have to steel themselves for 40 years of responding to customers and to various changes,” Toyoda was quoted as saying by the Wall Street Journal.

So basically, what Toyoda tries to say is building cars is not as easy as building phones, not even for a company the size of Apple.

Technology companies entering the car industry means that the car industry has a future and choices for customers will widen,” Toyota continued. “We welcome new entries, but I don’t think it would be fair for those people who are newly entering to say, ‘We don’t need to steel ourselves for 40 years, and you other folks who have been around for many years, you do that.’”

Apple itself has never commented on a possible expansion in the automotive market, but tech analysts already expect this business to become a moneymaking machine for the Cupertino tech firm.

Back in February, Piper Sandler analyst Harsh Kumar released a forecast to estimate the Apple Car would generate $5 billion in revenue only in its first year on the market, with the business to then grow to no less than $50 billion by 2030.
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
Bogdan Popa profile photo

Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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