Apple Adds Cars to its Business in Switzerland

Apple hasn't made an official statement about whether or not it's designing a car, but a recent change to its corporate documents in Switzerland makes it clear the company has its eye on the automotive market. The document change says vehicles are part of its business operations, which all but screams "We're making a car."

Apple adds cars to its business description in SwitzerlandApple adds cars to its business description in Switzerland

News of the corporate description change comes courtesy of the Swiss website ApfelBlog (English translation). From Apple's updated corporate description:

Vehicles; Apparatus for locomotion by land, air or water; electronic hardware components for motor vehicles, rail cars and locomotives, ships and aircraft; Anti-theft devices; Theft alarms for vehicles; Bicycles; Golf carts; Wheelchairs; Air pumps; Motorcycles; Aftermarket parts (after-market parts) and accessories for the aforesaid goods.

The all-inclusive nature doesn't mean Apple is also getting into the motorcycle, airplane, and ship business, but instead looks more like standard wording used for any type of vehicle design activity.

News of Apple's plans to get into the car business surfaced in February, and reports claim production could start in 2020. Apple has also been on a hiring spree from the automotive industry, managed to snag the research and development lead from Mercedes Benz, and is getting sued for hiring the advanced vehicle battery design team away from A123 Systems.

So far, the only detail we've been able to glean from Apple's car plans is that the vehicle will be electric powered. That isn't surprising considering the company's pro-environment position.

Assuming Apple is targeting 2020 for production, the design process must already be well underway. That said, the company is maintaining its usual tight-lipped stance on talking about future products and hasn't offered up any details about the project.

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