The shares of Hyundai Motor Co. more than 20% soared in Seoul trade on Friday after the South Korean manufacturer confirmed it was in talks with Apple Inc. to develop a standalone electric car.
“Apple and Hyundai are under discussion, but as it is at an early stage, nothing has been decided,” Hyundai said in a statement.
That was enough to cause the Hyundai 005380,
the most intense commercial gain since 1988, at least.
Korean news website Hankyung first reported on Apple news, saying Hyundai would manufacture the car designed by Apple and develop batteries.
Separately, Bloomberg News reported Thursday that it will take Apple AAPL,
at least five years to develop a self-driving car. Bloomberg also reported that several former Tesla Inc. TSLA,
executives have been added to the project.
For years, it has been rumored that Apple works on a standalone car and has gone back and forth between developing its own car and developing only the technology for one. Last month, Reuters reported that Apple wanted to develop a passenger car with a date scheduled for 2024.
Shares of Apple jumped more than 3% on Thursday and rose 69% over the past year, compared to a 7% gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA,
of which it is a component, for the last twelve months.