Apple Wanted To Use BMW i3 As Basis For Its Own Electric Car: Report

BMW and Apple have long cooperated on advanced technology. The German carmaker was the first in the world to incorporate iPod recognition into a car, more than 10 years ago.

And the BMW i3 battery-electric car is not only highly advanced technologically--with its carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic body shell--but the most energy efficient vehicle sold in the U.S. today.

DON'T MISS: BMW i3: First Drive Of BMW's Radical New Electric Car (Oct 2013)

Now, according to the German business magazine Manager, it appears that Apple proposed to BMW that the i3--or parts of it--could form the basis of Apple's own supposed electric-car project.

Much remains shrouded in secrecy about whether or not Apple really intends to enter the automobile business.

And there's much dissension among analysts of both the auto and consumer electronics industries over whether this would be a smart move or downright destructive to Apple.

But in the story, published in the Manager issue dated July 24, the magazine writes that negotiations to use the BMW i3 body shell for an Apple "iCar" began last fall, but have since broken off.

ALSO SEE: BMW i3 Tear-Down Videos Show Electric Car's Radical Design

CEO Tim Cook and other senior Apple executives visited the i3 assembly facility in Leipzig, Germany, during a fact-finding process and broader discussions over technology cooperation between the two companies.

The magazine's online summary of its own article gives few other details to that part of the story--and German is not our strong suit, so we're relying on Google Translate for this recap.