Nissan denies being in talks with Apple over its autonomous car

Embed from Getty Images

According to the newest updates, don't expect Nissan to work with Apple on its autonomous car initiative. The Japanese car manufacturer issued a statement denying that it's in talks with Apple to develop its long-rumoured car. Financial Times reported earlier that Apple approached Nissan about a potential partnership "in recent months." 

But Nissan told Reuters it isn't meeting with Apple about this project. A spokesperson for the company said, "However, Nissan is always open to exploring collaborations and partnerships to accelerate industry transformation." 

But as The Verge pointed out, the statement doesn't cover whether Apple and Nissan held talks in the first place. According to FT's report, "the contact was brief and the discussions did not advance to senior management levels following divisions over branding for the iPhone maker's electric vehicles." 

Talks broke down supposedly when Apple requested that Nissan manufacture cars with Apple's branding.

"We have our own customer satisfaction, which comes by car. No way we are going to change the way we make cars," Nissan COO Ashwani Gupta tells the Financial Times. "The way we design, the way we develop, and the way we manufacture is going to be as an automotive manufacturer, as Nissan."

The statement still doesn't address whether they held discussions before.

Hyundai and Kia were the last car manufacturers that we're heavily linked to Apple's Car project. And, for now, at least officially, we have to cross out Nissan from that list, too.