What you need to know
- Analysts at JP Morgan say that Renault could be an attractive partner for Apple and its car.
A new report from JP Morgan states that Renault could be an attractive partner for the Apple Car.
In a new note to investors JP Morgan notes recent press chatter surrounding Apple Car and a potential deal with various car OEMs including Hyundai and Kia.
The note states that Apple "is looking to create a Global Manufacturing Alliance" to launch the project. Accordingly, when looking at car manufacturers from a European point of view, JP Morgan says that Renault makes a lot of sense.
We think that adding Apple to the already established and successful Renault Nissan alliance could be of interest to the Renault-Nissan alliance and particularly Renault. We think there are fundamentally a few reasons why Renault would be an attractive partner for Apple: 1. Renault has an excellent track record in contract manufacturing and industrial collaboration... 2. Renault has >1 million units of excess capacity in Europe which clearly could be utilized with Apple coming on board; 3 Renault most likely would allow Apple to have significant flexibility in choosing the specific supply chain for the project vs other Global OEMs more keen to sell a specific dedicated architecture to Apple, which in turn could limit Apple's software design of the car; 4 the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi alliance would also provide a Global manufacturing connection that is present across the key regions of Europe, China, North America, LatAm, and wider Asia.
The report follows calls from UK MPs to try and bring manufacturing of Apple Car to Britain. The aforementioned Nissan already has a strong manufacturing presence in the North East of England.
