Negotiations by the companies
Hyundai and KIA Motors (KS:000270) have denied media reports that they are allegedly in talks with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to develop autonomous electric cars.
The South Korean carmaker notes that it has received requests for collaboration to jointly develop unmanned electric vehicles from a number of companies, but talks are at an early stage and a decision has yet to be made.
Following the announcement, shares of Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors fell 6.21% and about 15% respectively in trading in Seoul on Monday. Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor shares jumped 19.42% on January 8 on reports about possible cooperation with Apple, which, according to Bloomberg, led to an increase of the market capitalization of the company by 8 billion. South Korean experts believe that the stock decline could continue, in particular, Kia securities may correct up to 31%, writes CNBC.
The rebuttal comes after CNBC reported last week that Apple is close to completing a deal with Hyundai-Kia to produce the Apple Car, an unmanned electric car, starting in 2024.
Apple Car
Apple has said it intends to return to a programme to build its own unmanned electric car for the mass market, unlike rivals such as Alphabet's Waymo (NASDAQ:GOOG), which has built a drone for a driverless taxi-calling service.
Apple shares
Shares in the iPhone maker have risen 70% over the past year. One expert has given the stock a "buy" rating with a target price of $175 ($136.76 at Friday's close).
"Apple with the right partner (the top two choices are Hyundai and VW) will become a major force in the electric car industry and could take market share away from the likes of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), General Motors (NYSE:GM), Ford (NYSE:F) if the company can launch Apple Car by 2024", the analyst said.
For now, the rest of Wall Street is sticking to a cautiously optimistic outlook for the stock. Among the analysts surveyed by the publication, 20 have a 'buy' rating, five 'hold' and two 'sell'. Meanwhile, the average consensus target price of $149.92 indicates an upside of 9.6% from current levels.
