Volkswagen Chief Says Company 'Not Afraid' Of Apple Electric Car

Volkswagen VLKAF CEO says the company is not worried about the prospect of an electric car from Apple Inc AAPL.

What Happened: Rumors have been flying that the Sacramento-based tech giant might be getting ready to jump into the auto industry. In December, Reuters reported that Apple might be getting ready to build an electric vehicle for 2024.

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Herbert Diess, the CEO of the German auto conglomerate, in an interview published today by German newspaper  Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, said that even if the news were true, Apple wouldn’t be able to “manage it overnight.”

“The car industry is not a typical tech-sector that you could take over at a single stroke,” Diess said, according to a Reuters translation.

Although Volkswagen’s chief executive acknowledged that producing an electric car is a “logical” move for the iPhone manufacturer because it already has expertise in design, software development and batteries — not to mention enough capital to pull it off.

“Still, we are not afraid,” he added.

Price Action: Apple stock closed at $135.37 on Friday, up 0.18%, and were up 0.044% higher in the after-hours session, rising to $135.43.

Volkswagen shares closed at $220.20, a drop of 0.86%, on Friday.