Two months after a report that Apple was considering acquiring or investing in McLaren, an executive of the British automaker has confirmed that, while talks did occur, they were ultimately inconclusive.
Mike Flewitt, the Chief Executive of McLaren Automotive, told Reuters that Apple did not make a bid for McLaren. However, he explained: “They visited. We talked. We talked about what they did. We talked about what we did. They toured. It never matured to a definitive proposition”.
The original report came from the Financial Times and claimed that, according to “three people briefed on the negotiations”, there had been already been several months of talks that could have culminated in a deal likely valued somewhere between $1.3 billion and $1.9 billion.
McLaren’s automotive-related tech, patents and engineering skill were believed to have attracted Apple. We still haven’t received concrete word on why Apple eventually shied away from a deal, though the Financial Times’ sources did say that “a recent shift in Apple’s car strategy” could put negotiations on ice.
Just last month, the Cupertino firm was reported to have paused its efforts on making its own electric car – having decided, following executive Bob Mansfield’s takeover of Apple’s car team, to instead develop an autonomous driving software platform. This was in order to leave the door open to either partnering with car manufacturers or returning to in-house vehicle development, Bloomberg reported.
