The arrival of the Apple Car is getting closer and closer. The rapprochement between Apple and Hyundai has opened the door to this fact that we practically considered buried. Little by little more and more details are being known about where these new vehicles will be manufactured, which opens a new debate on their price. We tell you all the details below.
An Apple Car made in America, what does it mean?
As reported by the iMore media, Hyundai would be thinking of transferring the production of the new Apple Car to its subsidiary Kia. This undoubtedly has many implications that will fully affect users, since if this transfer is made in the end, the new car from the Cupertino company will end up being manufactured in the United States. Specifically, the ‘birth’ of the Apple Car would occur in Georgia, where the Kia factories are located.
Although a priori the place where the vehicle is assembled may seem insignificant, the reality is that it will have a lot of implication in the price for the user. This is a debate that has been going on for many years with other technological products such as the iPhone or the Mac. Right now these devices are not assembled in the United States, but rather are made in Asia for cost savings . It is known by all that working conditions in countries like China are not the best. The average salary in this country is quite low compared to other countries like the United States. This means that companies, like Apple, can save good money in the assembly process to offer their equipment at a much more attractive price.
With this premise, we can take into account that if finally the new Apple cars are manufactured in Georgia, the salaries of the workers will be quite high in comparison. In the end, those who will pay these repercussions could be the buyers themselves. But the truth is that when it comes to a vehicle assembly line, many more factors interfere. For example, the transport of the final product from Asia to the rest of the continents can become really expensive because transporting a car is not the same as transporting an iPhone. This would be one of the factors among others that would not make it attractive to have manufacturing in Asia.
We have many examples of automotive companies that have their factories in countries outside of Asia. For example, Tesla has all its manufacturing located in the US and this has not prevented them from offering increasingly competitive prices over time. The first Tesla vehicles were undoubtedly expensive but as they began to go into chain production. The costs of the different components have been reduced as well as the time that has to be invested in each of the vehicles. If we go to our own country, Spain, we can have examples such as the manufacture of SEAT vehicles.
That is why the fact that the production of these new Apple cars is located in the United States will not mean an abusive increase in costs in the long term. Obviously, these are simple conjectures since the agreement has not yet been fully closed and the final location is not known. At the moment the rumors suggest that the Apple Car will end up becoming a reality in 2024 and until then there will be many ends that must be tied.