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Transportation Apple

Apple Hires Former BMW Executive for Its Rebooted Car Project (bloomberg.com) 41

Posted by BeauHD from the significant-automotive-hires dept.
Apple has hired Ulrich Kranz, a former senior executive at BMW AG's electric car division, to help lead its own vehicle efforts. Bloomberg reports: The technology giant hired Kranz in recent weeks, about a month after he stepped down as chief executive officer of Canoo, a developer of self-driving electric vehicles. Before co-founding Canoo, Kranz was senior vice president of the group that developed the i3 and i8 cars at BMW, where he worked for 30 years.

Kranz is one of Apple's most significant automotive hires, a clear sign that the iPhone maker is determined to build a self-driving electric car to rival Tesla and other carmakers. Kranz will report to Doug Field, who led development of Tesla's mass-market Model 3 and now runs Apple's car project, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss a private matter. [...] Following successful stints at BMW's Mini division and teams working on sports cars and SUVs, Kranz was asked to run Project I, a battery-powered vehicle skunkworks started in 2008. It yielded the all-electric i3 compact and the plug-in hybrid i8 sports car. The former was panned by design critics, and production was very limited on the latter. Kranz left BMW in 2016 and soon became chief technology officer at Faraday Future, an electric vehicle startup based in Los Angeles. He stayed only three months, before co-founding Canoo. Both firms have struggled with their technology and ability to produce vehicles, while Canoo reportedly discussed selling itself to Apple and other companies.
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Apple Hires Former BMW Executive for Its Rebooted Car Project More

Apple Hires Former BMW Executive for Its Rebooted Car Project

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  • A car for who? Jeff Bezos? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Sophia_C ( 7260376 ) on Thursday June 10, 2021 @05:07PM (#61474944)

    With Apple's mark-ups I can only imagine the price of such a vehicle. Ten bucks says it goes to Apple-approved locations and businesses & somehow costs more than the GDP of France

    • With Apple's mark-ups I can only imagine the price of such a vehicle. Ten bucks says it goes to Apple-approved locations and businesses & somehow costs more than the GDP of France

      Nice Troll, Comrade!

      • Re: A car for who? Jeff Bezos? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by NFN_NLN ( 633283 ) on Thursday June 10, 2021 @05:41PM (#61475030)

        If I told you Apple would release a $1000 monitor stand before it happened you would say I was trolling -- and you'd be correct.

        Narrator: That premium is also known as the "Apple tax," or paying more simply because it's an Apple product. The 256 GB MacBook Air, for example, costs $1,299, but you can get a more powerful Windows laptop for over $100 less. Apple's high prices reached meme proportions during the announcement of its Mac Pro in June 2019. Claps turned to gasps when John Ternus unveiled a $1,000 monitor stand as an add-on for the $5,000 Mac Pro display.

        https://www.businessinsider.co... [businessinsider.com]

        • but you can get a more powerful Windows laptop for over $100 less.

          $100 for Windows and a couple gigasomethings?

          Good grief, the leather folio my iPad is in costs more than that. Look, if I had to buy the cheapest thing around I would, but I don't, so it comes down to do I get $100 of value or whatever I'm looking for out of it. Dude, my Logitech mouse cost $100. Paying $100 to snub a PC is ... easy.

          Besides, you know how many people would happily pay $100 extra for a solid Linux laptop? Well neither do I, but around here that would be fairly popular. If the average Win

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by mjwx ( 966435 )

      With Apple's mark-ups I can only imagine the price of such a vehicle. Ten bucks says it goes to Apple-approved locations and businesses & somehow costs more than the GDP of France

      Whilst we can all laugh at how much Apple fanboys overpay, there are ingenious ways to get them to do it.

      Few people with Iphones buy them outright, especially if they're brand new. They get them on a £59 a month contract for 24 months with a £100 up front cost, the service they're getting costs on a rolling monthly plan around £10 (yes my friends from across the pond, you can get a decent plan for US$14, I pay £6 a month for unlimited calls, texts and 2 GB of data).

      The same is

    • Was that a cheap shot at the Froggies economic system, such as it is? Shame on you! Down on your knees so that you can be beaten by baguettes . Swine!
  • He would have been perfect for this gig.

  • The Apple of carts (Score:3)

    by Frank Burly ( 4247955 ) on Thursday June 10, 2021 @05:22PM (#61474992)
    I think Apple is exactly the sort of lifestyle brand that could move very convincingly into electric cars, but isn't the i3 the BMW that nobody wants to drive or be seen in?
    • The i3 is definitely, um, lets say eclectic. However, the new i4 just came out recently, for people looking for a traditional BMW sports sedan except in a BEV.

      https://www.press.bmwgroup.com... [bmwgroup.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AvitarX ( 172628 )

      I love mine.

      It's interesting looking, but it has an amazingingly spacious (for the size) interior, is made of carbon fiber, has the best dashboard layout of any car I've driven (I really love the bucket under the center screen), and is a joy to drive.

      There are some flaws, but overall it's a pretty excellent car that leases pretty cheap or can be had for very little used.

      I have the 2016 with the 2 gallon gas tank and it was in like with a similarly aged leaf or Spark EV in price (15k fully loaded with under

    • The problem with the i3 is that it starts at almost $12000 more than a 2022 Bolt, has a weaker motor, less storage space, BMW service prices, and over 100 miles less range (151 vs 259 miles) and the interior isn't any more luxurious than than the 2LT Bolt which is still 9k cheaper.

      Pretty much the only thing it has going for it is the "cachet" of the BMW brand (if that matters to you), but it throws all that out the window in terms of styling, so...

  • I can't wait (Score:3)

    by Junta ( 36770 ) on Thursday June 10, 2021 @05:25PM (#61474996)

    I'm looking forward to a car that will refuse to start if I install unauthorized third-party windshield wiper blades, and that will start limiting my car to 45 mph/70 kph when it is a couple of years out of date.

  • Apple should just start with electric cars (Score:3)

    by Pinky's Brain ( 1158667 ) on Thursday June 10, 2021 @05:29PM (#61475004)

    Autonomous driving is a hard AI problem, especially on urban roads. The real reason why VW wants to charge for "autonomous" driving is because they anticipate it will require a fuckton of remote control rather than autonomy and remote control drivers require hourly wages.

  • the M4 nostrils. Just can't resist picking the boogers out of them.

  • Still a weak move (Score:3)

    by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) * on Thursday June 10, 2021 @06:56PM (#61475204) Homepage Journal

    I called it on BMW but it's still a weak-leader move. Apple can afford BMW - be bold, Tim.

    https://twitter.com/bill_mcgon... [twitter.com]

    • Why would they want BMW? The only valuable thing BMW really has any more is a brand, and Apple's is worth more.

  • Apple is designing electric cars. They want to take over Tesla's market.

    Ford is designing electric cars. They want to take over Tesla's market.

    Toyota is designing electric cars, but they still think hydrogen is a viable fuel. They want to take over Tesla's market.

    VW is designing electric cars. They want to take over Tesla's market.

    Startups: Lucid, Faraday, Canoo, Zoox. They are all designing electric cars. They want to take over Tesla's market or at least a share of it.

    The list goes on.

    • Apple probably thought the same when they came out with the iPhone.

      Tesla was the only game in town for mid to upper range BEVs until recently. That is changing quickly. Like Apple, Tesla will always have its die hard fans, but there is going to be a lot more choice in the future.
    • Ford, Toyota, VW etc already have plenty of factories to build cars and can partner with suppliers for electric technology (car makers outsource the supply of 70-80% of their components). They have large exiting markets which are much bigger than Tesla's. They aren't looking to take over Tesla's market, they're looking to keep and grow their existing market share. If electric cars are the future, then it's obvious that existing manufacturers will move that way.
    • Tesla was early, but the existing players are catching up. Fast. And their build quality is years ahead of Tesla.

      Not everyone wants a vehicle with no buttons. Not everyone wants a Tesla.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by N1AK ( 864906 )
      What has changed is relative gap between Tesla and competitors over the last 5 years. The Model S/Y were/are expensive but there was nothing even remotely comparable. The Model 3 was a genuinely credible ICE replacement without compromises when the other affordable BEV options were pretty junk even a couple of years ago. Now you have competitors like the Mustang Mach E that is a strong competitor in any reasonable comparison, and I personally believe is better given real world range, and that is going to be
  • I read from leaker reports (not sure how trustworthy) that Apple was looking at specific segments for its car such as ride sharing and deliveries. And design completely around that core concept. It may not be a general use car. Would be an interesting approach. In any case, more competition is good.

  • I've asked it before and I'm asking it again: Why is Apple bothering with cars? It makes no sense.

  • Why bother hiring any engineers, its obvious the CEOs do all the work. Maybe thats americas problem, too many employees and not enough CEOS.

  • Remember back when there were thousands of startups building every brand of desktop computer?
    That's where we'll be with EV cars soon. Apple will probably end up like IBM did, or Silicon Graphics, or something like that. My money says Aptera will be the next Dell.

    Based on what?
    I built my own EV and wrote a book about it. ISBN-13: 9781946767035
    (you'll get better image quality anywhere other than Amazon. Their printing isn't the best.)

    Compared to doing a gas engine swap or rebuild, it was dead simple. Seriousl

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