On Monday, tech giant Apple announced it would sell its first car in 2019, but a former auto industry executive warns that the company may be in over its head when it comes to making cars.
Former General Motors and BMW executive Bob Lutz was extremely skeptical about Apple’s entry into the car-making business, according to an article by the Christian Science Monitor. Lutz warns that Apple’s car, expected to be an all-electric model, would be costly to build, with lower profit margins than Apple is accustomed to with its line of personal electronics.
Lutz also cautioned that the electric car market maintains just a tiny fraction of the overall auto sector, and noted that Apple has no expertise in the battery issues that are crucial to the profitability of electric vehicles. While other tech companies are researching fully autonomous vehicles, Apple is expected to be focusing on electrification, with autonomous features to be added later.
Lutz did allow that Apple could farm-out production of the car to an experienced auto maker like Hyundai or a Chinese manufacturer, as they already do with many of their small electronics. Apple may be planning to triple the number of employees in its unconfirmed car division, from 600 to 1800.