On Wednesday, Sept. 21, news broke that tech giant Apple is in talks to take over McLaren Technology Group in order to support its efforts to design the Apple car.
Apple To Acquire McLaren
According to Nerds Magazine, Apple talks with McLaren have been going on for several months, but the final decision to take over the world famous luxury and Formula One car producer has not yet been finalized.
Tech experts believe that in case that this deal will be finalized, this can represent some big news for the highly anticipated Apple Car. For years already, there were reported rumors of the possibility that Apple is working on a secret car project.
Apple has indeed "Project Titan," an automotive secretive department. However, there is still no official announcement or clear evidence that the high-tech giant Apple is working on developing its own vehicle.
Talks with McLaren may spark a new round of speculations regarding the rumored Apple car. However, McLaren has denied the possibility of a full acquisition by Apple. According to Business Insider, even if a McLaren spokesperson denied that an Apple investment or takeover in negotiated, such a move from Apple would completely make sense.
Regardless of the declaration of McLaren spokesperson, the idea of a buyout could be tempting for both Apple and McLaren. Apple could certainly use the decades long car-building know-how of McLaren, one of the world's finest automotive design and engineering companies. And McLaren, could use Apple's money in an industry that is very time and capital intensive.
With the acquisition of McLaren, Apple would get more than a simple automotive group. The high-tech giant would also be absorbing highly valuable of automotive-focused engineers and racing technology.
McLaren is the owner of several valuable patents and it has also organized the Applied Technologies group responsible for research and studies materials. Another department called McLaren Electronic Systems is involved in extensive work with sensors and data.
Apple has already made several big acquisitions in the past. The tech giant acquired Beats for $3 million in May of 2014. Jimmy Iovine stated in a press release regarding the acquisition that he always felt "that Beats belonged with Apple."
Apple made another move in the automotive industry earlier this year. The high-tech company invested $1 billion dollar investment in a prominent ride-hailing company called Didi Chuxing.
