If semiconductor shortages, recession risks and the once-a-century shift in propulsion weren’t enough to keep auto executives up at night, here’s one more sleep disruptor: Consumers are keen to buy an Apple car before one even exists.
Strategic Vision just released the results of an annual study that this year reached 200,000 new-vehicle owners. For the first time, the consulting firm included Apple among the more than 45 brands it surveyed consumers about.
Whether Tim Cook will actually green-light a product for all these prospective buyers is still unclear. “We’ll see what Apple does,” the chief executive officer told the New York Times last year. “We investigate so many things internally. Many of them never see the light of day.” Autonomous or not, an Apple car could be a formidable force, especially given the amount of tech consumers want in their new vehicles and the challenges incumbents have had meeting those expectations.