Kuo: Apple Car team 'has been dissolved for some time', reorganization needed

By Stephen Warwick
last updated

Apple Car Concept
Apple Car Concept (Image credit: Vanarama)

What you need to know

  • A new report claims Apple's Car project team has been "dissolved" for some time.
  • Ming-Chi Kuo says Apple needs to reorganize in the next six months to meet its 2025 production goal.
  • It follows a January report stating nearly all of Apple's Car team had moved on from the company.

A new report claims that the Apple Car team has been "dissolved" for some time and that the company must reorganize it within three to six months to meet its production goal of 2025.

The information comes from famed insider Ming-Chi Kuo's burgeoning Twitter account which multiple sites, including iMore, understand to be legitimate.

Kuo wrote:

The Apple Car project team has been dissolved for some time. The reorganization within the next three to six months is necessary to achieve the goal of mass production by 2025.

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While 'dissolved' might imply that the team has been discontinued or is no longer operating, Kuo goes on to say that reorganization is necessary if Apple wants to start making its Apple Car by 2025, suggesting at least some remnants remain.

The news reflects a January report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, stating that Apple had lost its head of software engineering program management from the team. Gurman went on to say that the entire team that was in place just one year ago was now "gone".

In December of 20202 Kuo reported through this usual outlet that Apple was aiming to release its Apple Car in 2025 at the earliest, but said that launch could come as late as 2028 or beyond.

Reports and rumors of an Apple Car continue to circulate, not least through concepts such as this one from Vanarama (pictured), based on genuine patents filed by Apple.

Stephen Warwick
Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design.

Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9

2 Comments
  • Many of the Apple car rumours were always sketchy at best. The cars we have seen driving around were likely to test technologies for future projects, eg LiDAR in the iPhone likely came from the research from the cars.
  • We have been hearing rumours since 2015. Where Apple was going to release their first car to the public in 2019, then it was 2020, then it became 2021. When 2018 rolled around we heard that Apple's first car will be arriving in 2022. Then it was pushed to 2023. When 2020 came, then Apple rumours said Apple was looking to partner with some existing Car manufacturers, then more rumours that Apple's vehicle could arrive at the earliest by the end of 2024, but most likely be in 2025. Then mid 2021 we heard rumours that Apple was looking at working with some car parts OEMs, and Apple's first car will arrive at the end of 2025. Then at the end of 2021 timeframe we heard that Apple was now looking to partner with Foxconn, which makes Apples smartphones, but Foxconn is looking at now bridging out, and start making car parts. Then rumours said that Apple's first car could arrive at the end of 2026, and maybe 2027. Plus somewhere in between we heard that Apple's first car will not have a steering wheel, or gas peddle, or brake peddle. With everything that was said over the years. People would have a better time predicting the winning lottery numbers than trying to predict when Apple's first car will arrive.