McLaren confirms talks with Apple; never matured to a definitive proposition

tech2 News StaffNov 21, 2016 11:41:46 IST

If you remember a couple of months back there were reports that said Apple is talking with British car maker McLaren for a substantial amount of investment. It was also rumoured that Apple was planning to takeover the car company, an over the top move by Apple. However it was later confirmed that no such deal was in place.

A fresh report now confirms that those reports were true. According to a Reuters interview with McLaren Automotive CEO Mike Flewitt, there were indeed some discussions with Apple, but it didn't progress into a definitive proposition and a takeover bid from Apple was ruled out.

"There wasn't a bid from Apple. They visited. We talked. We talked about what they did. We talked about what we did. They toured. It never matured to a definitive proposition," said Flewitt.

It seems a bit unbelievable that Apple would go all the way and invest in a car brand, and even buy it.  Of course rumours and speculations about the Apple Car have been around for a while now, but we haven't seen anything concrete. What we heard last was that the iPhone maker has slowed down and is probably phasing out the idea of making a car altogether. Instead Apple is focusing on making the software for autonomous cars, which is probably the future of personal transport.