Apple car plans envision release as early as 2020

The big news from the last couple of days is that more and more evidence mounts up to testify that Apple is working on a car, and the latest scoop by Bloomberg reveals that Cupertino might be ready to unveil the electric vehicle as early as 2020.

The alleged Apple Car (the iCar?) will face electric vehicle rivals from the likes of Tesla Model III, the $35,000 sedan that is planned to come in 2017 and sport a massive, 200-mile range. The 200-mile range has often been said to be a milestone, ‘the inflection point’ (in the words of Steve LeVine) that will bring on electric cars to a true mainstream level.

Apple certainly has the cash to build out car operations quickly. With $178 billion in the bank and a net profit of north of $18 billion in its last (and strongest so far) quarter, the company could easily buy out the multi-billion facilities. With the example set by Tesla, it is now clear that the barriers for entering the automotive industry are not as high as one would imagine.

At the same time, many analysts and insiders like former Apple executive Jean-Louis Gassee have put reports about the Apple Car under serious doubt saying that the Wall Street Journal (the publication that first reported on this) is mistakenly reading Apple’s efforts in building better car info-tainment with a full-blown car production. Insiders speaking for WSJ, Bloomberg, and other media traditionally used by Apple for its controlled release of its future plans, however, continue adding more fuel to the symbolic Apple Car rumor fire.

One disclaimer is due: all reports mention that - just like with many other prototypes - the Apple Car is by no means a product that has guarantees to arrive to market. In the late fall of 2014, Tim Cook has said in an interview that Apple has many products in development that had not even leaked out yet, but the company is not going to release all of them.