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Motor Trend Apple Car ‘exclusive’ is pure speculation, with poor renders & no actual info [Video]

We predicted yesterday that the Apple Car piece teased by Motor Trend was likely to be nothing more than a speculative piece or design exercise rather than anything based on solid information – and we were right. Despite the ‘Apple Car exclusive’ headline, the entire lengthy piece is nothing more than a bunch of people brainstorming ideas for the car and then producing sketches and renders from them.

Bad sketches and renders, as it turns out. They’ve effectively just taken design cues from the iPhone, slapped some wheels on it and called it a car. Seriously – it even has an antenna cutout …

Little is yet known about the Apple Car, Tim Cook telling shareholders that ‘it’ll be Christmas Eve for a while,’ but we can be very confident it won’t look anything like the above.

The words are mostly no better than the images.

“It could be more of a tiny, mono-shaped minivan.” Minivan? “No, we’re talking about a premium mono-volume.”

It’s not all bad. They do, for example, suggest that the Apple Car will be like a “really great family chauffeur who knows the family, knows your schedules.” I think that’s spot-on. The round-table discussion alone could have been interesting were it not seeking to pretend to be anything more than a bunch of guys chewing the breeze. As it is, though, it feels a long way short of what was teased.

It’s a shame. Even a purely speculative piece like this could have been interesting if done well. I’d love to know what some real car designers expect Apple to produce. But this isn’t that.

Check out the video below and, if you can bear it, the full set of sketches over at Motor Trend.

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Comments

  1. taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

    Very poor video, wonder if the magazine will have any insight or pure speculation like the video.

  2. Kalud (@kalud) - 8 years ago

    Terrible… Bad April’s fool story that went out late…

  3. That’s very poor work from the magazine. No way the Apple Car (if there will ever be one) is going to look anything like that. They only provide speculations. Anyone can do that.

  4. MJ Ortiz (@viper2021) - 8 years ago

    I can’t believe this is the best design that the Industrial designers can do. Very very bad. It is as ugly as the Prancer car from the movie “Vacation”.

  5. chrisl84 - 8 years ago

    I so hope that’s what it looks like……please oh please lol

  6. 311sie - 8 years ago

    Nice WiFi antenna lines.

  7. Dave Andreu - 8 years ago

    I know there’s such a thing as “personal tastes cannot be argued” but if this gaudy monstrosity were ever to hit the roads, it would stand as an emblem of poor taste. That’s the ugliest car I think I’ve ever seen… Everything… just everything about it… awful.

  8. Grayson Mixon - 8 years ago

    It’s fine to have a car fantasy, but they should have labeled it as “The Apple Car of Our Dreams”. In the article, the guy even mentions trying to rein in the rest of the team, but they just went way off from reality.

    A more realistic exercise would be to take the Tesla Model S, the European cars that Apple designers like and own, Car Play, and in-car wireless connectivity, and that would be the best version of what someone could make with today’s technology, and then they could amp it up a little bit for the Apple wow factor.

  9. rogifan - 8 years ago

    Ugh. And techie people in my Twitter feed got reeled in and were freaking out yesterday saying if this is what Apple’s car looks like they’d never buy it and Apple is doomed and it’s a mistake for Apple to do this because car design is so subjective and polarizing etc. etc. etc. Sigh.

    • patthecarnut - 8 years ago

      BREAKING NEWS (I always wanted to say that)

      I just got a “scoop” on this Apple car! Apple are going back to 30 pin connectors. The LED tail lights also double as the charging cable connector. Of course, it’s about 5′ wide and 4″ thick. LOL!

  10. patthecarnut - 8 years ago

    This is either a gag on MT’s part or they are totally clueless. I’m guessing it’s 1 part cluelessness mixed with 1 part feeling relevant to the “actual” automotive world and a bit of taking themselves too serious thrown in. Yes folks, if Apple were to design a car they would start with the basis of the iPhone design and plaster Apple logos all over it. I mean com’on. It looks like they took a gold iPhone into Kai Power Goo and stretched and bulged it then threw some cheesy GM EV1 wheels on it. The video is a round table of idiots. This is ridiculously funny, and embarrassing at the same time. They should stick to writing crappy magazines.

  11. Rich Davis (@RichDavis9) - 8 years ago

    I believe that everyone that was involved in this video wasted their time, and I also wasted my time in watching it.

  12. Rich Davis (@RichDavis9) - 8 years ago

    “They’re WAY off!!!”

    Tim Cook

  13. druglarson - 8 years ago

    Maybe Motor Trend is trying to force Apple’s hand to give a few actual details to combat this nonsense? The sad thing is, this weirdmobile will live forever on google images.

  14. This car looks like it has 2 read ends. Awful speculation.

  15. cameronhood - 8 years ago

    Ah ha ha ha ha…like Apple would build something THAT freaking ugly…

  16. bdkennedy1 - 8 years ago

    Is this a late April Fool’s joke?

  17. bdkennedy1 - 8 years ago
  18. DanG (@Ingila_Bear) - 8 years ago

    OMG, Apple will sue everyone for copying their fugly car design.

  19. mytawalbeh - 8 years ago

    very very ugly !

  20. PJ (@D00mM4r1n3) - 8 years ago

    6 Apple logos, no license plate mounts, no operable windows, front windshield tinting that is illegal in all 50 states, this is worse than Homer Simpson’s design for the ultimate automobile. Are any Apple apologists even trying to come up with an excuse for this one?

  21. Sug Zerep - 8 years ago

    Apple would not dare produce a car this ugly. The looks of this “concept” is more reminiscent of the unimaginative designs by now extinct Pontiac.

  22. drtyrell969 - 8 years ago

    Trite. Just like Tim.

Author

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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