Apple Car Unlikely to Go Into Mass Production in Next Few Years: Ming-Chu Kuo

Kuo believes Apple must look at alternate strategies to make headways into automotive space.

Apple has been launching its regular slate of products — most recently the iPhone 15 series, the Apple Watch Series 9, the Apple Watch Ultra 2, and a refreshed pair of AirPods Pro — without noticeable hitches, but its long-gestating, ambitious electric vehicle faces an uncertain future. Riddled with repeated delays and development problems, the Apple car project, internally known as Titan, seem to have hit new hurdles. According to prominent Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple’s car plans have “lost all visibility,” and the Cupertino, California-based tech firm must look at alternate strategies to make headways into a highly competitive automotive space.

TF Securities analyst Kuo, in a post on X on Wednesday, cast doubts on project Titan, Apple’s bet on a self-driving electric vehicle. “The development of the Apple Car seems to have lost all visibility at the moment,” Kuo’s post read. “If Apple doesn’t adopt an acquisition strategy to enter the automotive market, I doubt that the Apple Car can go into mass production within the next years.”

Kuo’s comments seem to suggest that Apple must seek a partner with expertise in the automotive industry to collaborate and help see through its car project to market. It’s worth noting that Apple officially has not commented or confirmed its plans to bring an electric car to consumers. The Apple car, however, remains an open secret in the tech and automotive industry, especially as Apple has sought out talent in the same field over the past few years. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said as much way back in 2016. “It’s pretty hard to hide something if you hire over a thousand engineers to do it,” Musk had then said over Apple’s plans to rival Tesla in the EV space.

Kuo did not elaborate on his claims in his post on X (formerly Twitter), but his comments are in line with the widely reported stuttering development on Project Titan. Back in December last year, Bloomberg had reported that Apple had delayed the launch of its electric car to 2026, missing its expected 2025 target. Far more concerning was the claim that the tech giant was pulling back on plans of an advanced self-driven electric car as present technology reportedly did not reconcile with the company’s vision for a fully autonomous vehicle. Apple had initially planned for the vehicle to ship without a steering wheel and pedals; that has been put on the backburner in favour of a more traditional car design that would support self-driving on highways.