In late 2014, when Shinzo Abe, then prime minister, revealed in a speech that Apple was building its first technology centre in Japan, the high-profile foreign investment was touted as a success of his economic policy.
It also fuelled immediate speculation that perhaps the iPhone maker was looking for a Japanese partner for its secretive project to build autonomous electric vehicles.
So it was only natural that market scrutiny would once again fall on Japan’s eight carmakers after the US tech giant halted talks on an automotive tie-up with South Korea’s Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia.
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