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Shares of Hyundai Motor Co. soared more than 20% in Seoul trading Friday after the South Korean auto maker confirmed it was in talks with Apple Inc. to develop a self-driving electric car.
“Apple and Hyundai are in discussion, but as it is at early stage, nothing has been decided,” Hyundai said in a statement.
That was enough to spark Hyundai’s 005380, +24.03% sharpest intraday trading gain since at least 1988.
The Korean news website Hankyung first reported the Apple news, saying Hyundai would manufacture the Apple-designed car as well as develop batteries for it.
Separately, Bloomberg News reported Thursday that it will take Apple AAPL, +3.41% at least five years to develop an autonomous car. Bloomberg also reported that a number of former Tesla Inc. TSLA, +7.94% executives have been added to the project.
For years, Apple has been rumored to be working on a self-driving car, and has gone back and forth between developing its own car and just developing the technology for one. Last Month, Reuters reported Apple was again looking to develop a passenger car, with a target date of 2024.
Apple shares jumped more than 3% on Thursday, and are up 69% over the past year, compared to a 7% gain by the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.69%, of which it is a component, over the past 12 months.
