By Gina Lee
Investing.com – South Korean's Hyundai Motor (KS:005380) and Kia Motors Corp. (KS:000270) saw their shares plunge, after saying that they are not in talks with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), in the latest round of a did-they-or-didn't-they game between the three companies.
Shares in Hyundai fell 5.01% to KRW237,000 ($211.91) by 11:59 PM ET (4:59 AM GMT) and Kia shares slumped 13.40% to KRW87,900 after both companies said earlier in the day in separate regulatory filings that “we are not having talks with Apple on developing autonomous vehicles.”
Both Korean companies saw their shares surge in early January, after Hyundai released a statement that said, “Apple and Hyundai are in discussion, but as it is at early stage, nothing has been decided." A local media report first broke the news of the collaboration, with the report also saying that the companies were ere in discussions to develop self-driving electric vehicles by 2027 and develop batteries at U.S. factories operated by either Hyundai or Kia.
However, Hyundai released a statement later in the day that backtracked on the earlier one, which erased all mentions of Apple but added that the company was “getting requests for cooperation on joint development of autonomous electric vehicles from various companies.” These “various companies” were not identified.
Apple has so far declined to acknowledge that it is in talks with the Korean companies to build the vehicles. However, Apple was in December 2020 moving forward with autonomous car technology, aiming to produce a passenger vehicle that could include its own breakthrough battery technology as early as 2024, according to Reuters.