Apple’s ambitions to take on Tesla in the electric car space, Uber in the self-driving space, and in general, to pivot into the auto industry have not been exactly a secret over the past year, but few had any idea how Tim Cook would go about doing this. Today, the FT reveals that the world’s most valuable company plans to transform the auto industry by purchasing British supercar maker and Formula One team owner, McLaren technology.
According to the FT, Apple has been working on a self-driving electric vehicle for more than two years, is considering a full takeover of McLaren or a strategic investment, citing “three people briefed on the negotiations who said talks started several months ago.” A tie-up with McLaren, whose expertise ranges from automotive engineering and on-board computer systems to novel chassis materials such as carbon fibre and aluminium, could accelerate Apple’s secretive automotive project. Apple and McLaren declined to comment.
The FT notes that the lossmaking automotive group was likely to be “valued at between £1bn and £1.5bn, the people said, adding that it was not clear that a deal would be done.”
That would make it Apple’s biggest acquisition since the $3bn purchase of Beats Electronics, the audio group founded by Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine, in 2014
This would not be Apple’s first expansion into the auto space: earlier this year, Apple invested $1 billion in Chinese Uber-competitor Didi Chuxing. That deal was Apple’s largest equity investment to date.
With Apple’s penchant for aspirational products, it may have found just the right one in McLaren, which produces luxury sports cars that can cost as much as $1m apiece and owns an advanced technologies group, as well as the eponymous Formula One racing team. The owners of McLaren Technology control 80 per cent of McLaren Automotive. It produced 1,654 vehicles last year, generating revenues of £450m, and has pledged to invest £1bn in the next six years on research and development.
McLaren Technology reported revenues of £265m and pre-tax losses of £22.6m in 2014, its last published accounts. It is owned by Ron Dennis, its chairman, Mansour Ojjeh, and Mumtalakat, Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund.
Should the deal go through, it would only boost Apple’s already rising presence in the car market: since 2014, Apple has built up a team of hundreds of engineers and designers to work on the electric car venture, including recruits from companies such as Tesla and Mercedes-Benz. Its original team leader, Steve Zadesky, left earlier this year, and Apple veteran Bob Mansfield took over the project.
However, in recent weeks, dozens of employees have departed, people familiar with the changes have said, as Mr Mansfield refocuses Apple’s efforts on the underlying systems that would power a self-driving car rather than building an electrical vehicle itself. Despite recent reports of those changes, some Apple analysts have questioned whether the company would depart from its traditional strategy of controlling both the hardware and software in its products.
While it is unclear if the iMcLaren would be electric or self-driving after Apple is done with it, the transaction likely means bad news for Uber: as the FT notee, some investors had hoped that Apple would make a move on Tesla. At its annual meeting last year, Apple shareholders peppered Mr Cook with questions about whether he planned to acquire Tesla, which he carefully sidestepped.
Should Cook acquire McLaren, any such speculation will be over, and more problematically, Apple would be able to compete with Uber by delivering a product at what will surely be even higher price point, from where it can then expand into the commodity business.
So far, Uber stock price has yet to react significiantly to the news. It will.
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