Volkswagen CEO Diess 'not afraid' of an Apple electric car

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's Volkswagen is not concerned by any Apple plans for a passenger vehicle that could include the iPhone maker's battery technology, its chief executive Herbert Diess said.

Reuters reported in December that Apple may have progressed enough to build a vehicle for mass markets by 2024, helped by cost cuts in battery technology.

"The car industry is not a typical tech-sector that you could take over at a single stroke," Diess was quoted as saying an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

"Apple will not manage that overnight," he added.

While Apple's plans are not public, Diess said its intentions as such were "logical" because the company had expertise in batteries, software and design, and that it had deep pockets to build on these competencies.

"Still, we are not afraid," he said.

Volkswagen plans to develop software needed for autonomous cars in-house to ensure it can compete against tech firms in the field of electric car data.

(Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Alexander Smith)