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Apple and Kia may be inking a deal on the Apple Car as soon as February

It still could be 2024 or 2025 before a car is actually released.

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The long-awaited Apple Car is supposed to be coming in 2024, with Apple investing 4 trillion won (roughly $3.6 billion) in Kia Motors to build the upcoming electric car. That’s according to reports from Korean outlet DongA Ilbo, which says that Kia’s Georgia plant will produce the vehicle.

While both Apple and Kia Motors declined to offer comments when asked by Bloomberg, the report from DongA Ilbo had confirmation that the two companies are in the process of hammering out contracts. The deal could be finalized as soon as February 17 of this year. That’s solid progress, in a road to pre-production that’s been rumor and conjecture at best until this time.

The large investment by Apple will be used for dedicated manufacturing lines at Kia’s factory. This is the same pattern of investment that Apple has previously done with its iPhone and iPad lines, investing heavily in LG Display for dedicated OLED manufacturing lines.

With Kia being partially owned by Hyundai, will the Apple Car get built on Hyundai’s E-GMP electric vehicle platform? That would mean a top range of 300 miles or 60 miles from a five-minute charge. A zero-to-sixty time of fewer than 3.5 seconds and a top speed of 160 mph would complete the specs, making Apple Car on par with Tesla’s Model 3, depending on the trim.

With analysts divided on the year of release, it could be 2025 or later when the Apple Car is rolling around on our roads.

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Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.

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