Kia says it is working with 'multiple' firms following Apple Car reports

Kia has said it is working with "multiple firms" on self-driving electric vehicles in the wake of reports that Hyundai has handed off the Apple Car project to the company.

From Reuters:

South Korean automaker Kia Corp said on Wednesday it's reviewing cooperation on self-driving electric cars with multiple foreign firms, making no mention of a report linking it to a project with tech giant Apple Inc.

Kia's comment, issued in a regulatory filing as its shares surged nearly 20% in Seoul, came after domestic online publication Edaily reported late on Tuesday that Kia's parent, Hyundai Motor Group, had decided Kia would be in charge of proposed cooperation with Apple on electric cars. The report cited unnamed industry sources.

As noted, a report earlier this week claimed Hyundai had handed off the project to Kia, and that the Apple Car could be made in the US at Kia's West Point plant in Georgia.

Hyundai had previously confirmed that it was in talks to produce a car for Apple, comments it quickly walked back.

Previous reports from supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo that Apple's Car will arrive in 2025 at the earliest. A similar report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman states that Apple's self-driving electric car is at least five years away. Apple reportedly has a few hundred engineers working on the project, including high-profile hires such as Jonathan Sive, formerly of BMW and Tesla.

Kia's stock price surged some 20% following the reports of an Apple Car partnership.