Apple to Charge Under $100,000 for Apple Car, Launch Planned for 2026

Apple is aiming to launch an Apple-branded consumer-oriented vehicle by 2026, and its goal is to hit a price point under $100,000 to make the car appeal to a wider range of customers, reports Bloomberg.

Apple initially planned to design a car that might look similar to Canoo’s Lifestyle Vehicle, where passengers could face one another in a limousine-style car with no steering wheel or pedals, but the project has been scaled back. The vehicle will now have a more traditional design with a driver’s seat, steering wheel, and pedals, and full autonomous driving will not be available, but the car will be able to use a self-driving mode on highways.

Apple’s main competitor will likely be Tesla, a brand that features electric vehicles with some self-driving functionality. Tesla vehicles are priced starting at around $47,000, but can go up to over $100,000. If the base Apple Car is priced at or around $100,000, it will compete with Tesla’s higher-end Model S.

The original plan was to price the ‌Apple Car‌ over $120,000, but Apple is now planning for a lower price point, likely due to the more restricted autonomous driving functionality that will be featured in the first version of the vehicle. Apple has not finalized a design for the ‌Apple Car‌, but is planning to have a design set by 2023 and a list of features ready to go by 2024. Testing will begin in 2025 ahead of a planned 2026 launch.

Apple continues to look for a partner for the manufacturing of its car, and it has so far only held serious negotiations with Volkswagen, but those talks were many years ago.

This article, “Apple to Charge Under $100,000 for Apple Car, Launch Planned for 2026” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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