Apple wants to be the luxury brand intersected with technology. Who else does that as well as they do?
Honestly, in terms of car manufacturers, I think there are a lot who do luxury better than Apple. Agreed their technology intersection isn't so great, but I'd rather own a BMW outfitted with Apple software than an Apple car.
Maybe the Apple car will be a BMW outfitted with Apple software. Tim Cook visited BMW premises last year, allegedly there has been at least another visit from an Apple delegation since then.
I think that sounds like a good idea, but in practice it's not a product you'd want.
Motorola used to be at the cutting edge of phones (e.g. Razr) but when Apple slapped their software onto a Motorola phone, it was a terrible product (Rokr).
Honestly, in terms of car manufacturers, I think there are a lot who do luxury better than Apple. Agreed their technology intersection isn't so great, but I'd rather own a BMW outfitted with Apple software than an Apple car.