TOKYO (Reuters) – Nissan Motor Co. Ltd said on Monday it was not in talks with Apple Inc., following a report that the iPhone maker had approached the Japanese company over the past few months about a connection to its autonomous car project .
According to the Financial Times, the companies had brief discussions about Nissan’s unwillingness to become an Apple car maker, adding that the talks had not progressed to the senior management level.
“We are not in talks with Apple,” a Nissan spokesman said. “However, Nissan is always open to cooperation and partnerships to accelerate the transformation of the industry.”
The spokesman declined to comment further.
Representatives from Apple were not immediately available for comment.
Concerns about becoming a mere contract maker for Apple were also a factor in this month’s crash in earlier talks over autonomous electric cars between Hyundai Motor Co. and the US tech giant.
Reuters reported in December that Apple is moving forward with autonomous car technology and aims to produce a passenger vehicle as early as 2024 that could include its own breakthrough battery technology.
Reporting by Eimi Yamamitsu in Tokyo, Nandakumar D and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Edited by Edwina Gibbs