Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda warned Apple Inc., which is planning a venture into the automotive industry: There is more to the industry than selling cars than just having the technology to make them.
The car industry welcomes new entrants, “but after making a vehicle, I wish they were willing to deal with customers and various changes for about 40 years,” said Toyoda at co- a press conference held Thursday by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, of which he is chairman.
While it may take Apple at least half a decade to launch its planned autonomous electric vehicle, the tech giant has been creating waves within the car industry recently approaching a wide range of manufacturers who are seen as potential competitors for vehicle engagement. .
The entry of the California-based company Cupertino into the car market has sparked fears among some legacy makers concerned about the potential unrest in an Apple-branded vehicle. These concerns may be one of the reasons why talks between Apple and some companies have broken down in recent months, with Hyundai Motor Co. and others go back after saying they were in conversations.
The world’s largest and second-largest manufacturers, Toyota and Volkswagen AG, don’t seem to care.
Volkswagen boss Herbert Diess said he was not afraid of Apple’s entry in an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung in February. The car sector is different from the tech industry, and Apple will not be able to take over overnight, ”he said.
The coming together of new tech companies has the potential to “breathe new life into the automotive industry and offer customers a wider range of options,” Toyoda said. But their entry must be “fair” to consumers, as they must be willing to take responsibility for the life cycle of their vehicles, from maintenance to final scrapping, he said.
This isn’t the first time Toyoda has been releasing new entrants. In a briefing in November, Toyoda said Tesla Inc. producing “real results. “Tesla, which surpassed Toyota as the most valuable automaker in the world last year, may be winning in terms of market value, Toyoda said. But Toyota has something the California-based automaker doesn’t have: experience: making more than 100 million cars.
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