Apple Should Buy This Car Supplier If It Wants to Get Into Autos

Reports about Apple getting into the car business are pervasive. Most focus on Apple designing an electric vehicle of some kind. If the tech behemoth is really serious about competing for a slice of the auto industry’s $3 trillion in sales, however, there is a far better way to do it.

Apple

(ticker: AAPL) should start with a modest purchase of an automotive supplier that does all the things the iPhone maker already understands. It should acquire

Visteon

(VC). It could be an easy buy. Apple had $165 billion in cash as of Dec. 31, while Visteon has a market value of $4.2 billion.