Not content with shilling phones and smart watches, Apple could be considering making a serious move into the automotive business: a new report says the tech company is interested in buying McLaren, maker of racing cars.
More specifically, Apple is in talks with McLaren Technology Group, which is the parent company of McLaren Automotive, according to a report from Financial Times (via Business Insider).
The discussions have been going on for months, FT reports, and could lead to an acquisition or perhaps a strategic investment.
While car racing fans might know McLaren for its speedy vehicles, it’s not a huge carmaker: TechCrunch notes that the company reported $617 million in revenue for all of 2015, with a net profit of $27 million.
FT believes the acquisition could be worth between $1.3 billion and $2 billion when all is said and done.
Rumors of an Apple car have been swirling for what seems like forever: in Sept. 2015, Apple said it hoped to have an electric car ready by 2019. At that time there were still a lot of questions about the super secret project, including whether or not Apple had a manufacturer in mind to actually build the cars. While McLaren is associated with race cars, its experience as a carmaker would probably still be a helpful acquisition to a tech company.
The tech giant also recently made a $1 billion investment in Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing, indicating that it might want to get into on-demand transportation industry as well.
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist