Apple Car Talks Hit Another Snag As Hyundai, Kia Deny Involvement

News about Apple's highly-anticipated autonomous electric vehicle has been on a roller coaster ride in the past weeks. News first broke out that Hyundai was in talks with Apple which the carmaker later recanted and denied. And then Kia came on the scene, again stirring up a storm of speculation and theories. On Friday, the latest word is that those talks have stalled and now both carmakers are saying that they are not involved in Apple Car development talks in the first place.

The news around Apple Car is rather interesting and amusing to observe. As analyst Ming-chi Kuo once warned, it's almost dangerous to take stock in those early rumors, seeing as how even the slightest one could cause company stocks to suddenly jump. That was definitely the case when Hyundai's and Kia's involvement came up and, unsurprisingly, those quickly fell as well after this latest tidbit went to press.

Hyundai and Kia are now saying that they are in talks with multiple companies about developing self-driving EVs. None of those, they say, have come to fruition, though. More importantly, they deny being in discussions with Apple about the Apple Car, despite what those insider tips say.

These statements curiously come after reports that the talks between Apple and Hyundai-Kia have stalled. Apple was reportedly unamused by the way the two carmakers have handled secrecy, especially with how Hyundai first slipped up and let the cat out of the bag. Whether this resulted in a failure of negotiations, we may never know now.

Of course, Apple is always looking for multiple partners but Hyundai and Kia were thought to be the most likely partners. Hyundai just launched its new E-GMP platform exclusively for electric vehicles while Kia's Georgia plant was a promising option for making the Apple Car in the US. With this latest report, the identity of the potential Apple Car maker is up in the air again.