Hyundai and its subsidiary Kia saw their shares tumble after the companies revealed in regulatory filings that they're not in talks with Apple over the secret Apple Car project.

Shares of Hyundai and Kia slumped 6.21 percent and nearly 15 percent, respectively.

The filings acknowledge that Hyundai was getting requests "from multiple companies" for co-operation in the joint development of autonomous electric vehicles, but then go on to add that "nothing has been decided" since everything is "in an early stage."

"Hyundai Motor is not in talks with Apple on autonomous vehicle development," reads Hyundai's filing. According to CNBC, Kia Motors also said it was not in talks with Apple.

This in turn could mean that Apple might have decided to partner with automobile vendors that won't talk about any deals publicly. Indeed, MUO recently reported that a handful of Japanese carmakers have been in negotiations with Apple over joining an Apple Car supply chain.

Apple Doesn’t Like Leaks

A failed manufacturing deal with Kia reportedly included building about 100,000 Apple Cars per year in the US. The Apple Car was supposed to be based on Hyundai's new electric vehicle platform that supports fast-charge to 80 percent in 18 minutes and delivers a top range of 250 miles (about 500 kilometers) on a single charge.

Kia is the second-largest car vendor in South Korea behind its co-owner Hyundai. Apple apparently aims to publicly announce the Apple Car in a few years.

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But Apple is extremely sensitive to leaks, which makes a flurry of recent Apple Car reporting that more interesting and peculiar. It's clear Apple was not happy because of those reports, which the company's leadership probably met with surprise and consternation.

What we're seeing now is probably some kind of damage control on Hyundai's part. While both sides can revisit the talks, we don't think this is going to happen because there are plenty of other car companies Apple could, and probably will, partner with.

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