A new front in the war between Apple and Samsung has just opened up. Today, the South Korean electronics giant announced it was working on its own electric car, with the project referred to internally as the "S-Car," or "Samsung-Car." (Hopefully that name changes before its launch.) Samsung CEO Dr. Oh-Hyun Kwon made the announcement and shed light on the company's decision to undertake the S-Car project during a press conference at the company's headquarters in Seoul, South Korea.
"The decision to undertake the S-Car project was not made lightly. But Samsung is not a company to be taken lightly. We must stay competitive in all areas, and that includes the automotive sector." When pressed by reporters as to which company Samsung needed to stay competitive with, Dr. Oh-Hyun Kwon revealed the obvious. "We have Apple in our sights. Much like the Galaxy vs. the iPhone this won't be much of a competition," he said. While Apple has been incredibly secretive regarding its upcoming car, Samsung shared many details on the S-Car project. In a press release the company announced that it would be working with Samsung Motors, which works with Renault, to modify the SM7 sedan to be an electric car.
Samsung has reportedly put 2,000 engineers on the project in an attempt to outdo (and catch up to) Apple. These engineers are hard at work on the S-battery pack and S-electric motor, with range goals set at 300 miles and a predicted top speed of 120 mph. The S-infotainment center is said to be a modified Samsung Galaxy View tablet which already measures an astonishing 18.4-inches. The tech-heavy focus will be evident throughout the S-interior as designers are working to install Galaxy smartphones in the armrests. These smartphones would let passengers control functions like air conditioning, web browser and radio. Despite all the tech, Samsung was mum on the car's possible autonomous features.
As for a release date, Samsung says to expect the car sometime in the middle of 2018. From the details released here it sounds as if Samsung is targeting Tesla and skipping over Apple entirely. However, Samsung's CEO made it clear just how much hatred his company has for Apple while responding to a question about the S-Car's price. "Samsung does not believe in making consumers pay extra just for a fashionable logo and a rose gold finish," he said. "That is why the S-Car will be cheaper than the Apple car's $75,000 price tag. We were thinking something like $74,999."