This story contains a speculative illustration for a future iCar made by CarScoops’ artist Josh Byrnes that is neither related to nor endorsed by Apple.

The Apple car has been a long time coming and while we likely won’t see it for quite some time, it seems that many consumers are very eager to get their hands on it.

Strategic Vision recently completed a study to determine if new vehicle owners would consider and how they feel about the quality of over forty-five different automotive brands. This year, Apple was added to the list, even though it doesn’t yet have a car on the market.

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The study revealed that 26 per cent of customers would ‘Definitely Consider’ an Apple-branded vehicle in the future, only placing the technology giant behind Toyota (38 per cent) and Honda at 32 per cent. An Apple Car was placed ahead of Ford with 21 per cent and Tesla at 20 per cent. The study also determined that over 50 per cent of Tesla owners would ‘Definitely Consider’ a vehicle from Apple.

In June, Apple introduced its latest version of CarPlay. Whereas previous systems were limited to the central infotainment screen, the new CarPlay works on all vehicle displays.

Of course, given that Apple doesn’t yet have a car on the market, 34 per cent of respondents noted that they ‘Don’t know enough about’ an Apple product to determine if they would consider it.

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“If others don’t prepare today for this type of disruption, they may find themselves wondering ‘What happened?,’ similar to when Tesla entered the market,” Strategic Vision senior vice president Christopher Chaney described in a press release. “All the current players in the industry mostly hold their own destiny. If they simply stay lulled into spending all their ingenuity chasing electric motors, LED lighting, and flat screens with thousands of apps and every high-tech feature you’ve never dreamed about, Apple may land the moonshot right in their sales backyard.”

Illustrations Carscoops.com / Josh Byrnes

Of course, the popularity of Apple’s EV will largely depend on how good it actually is, not just how consumers envision how good such a vehicle may be. Cracking into the automotive space is not easy and Apple will somehow need to win over not just its feverish brand loyalists but also more traditional car buyers.

With all that said, how do you feel about a future Apple iCar, does the idea alone sound more tempting than what Tesla has to offer and should Elon Musk take note?