German car giant Mercedes-Benz reckons rumours of an autonomous car made by Apple are a publicity stunt.

The global boss of Mercedes-Benz -- the company that invented the motor car -- believes plans by technology giant Apple to develop an autonomous vehicle may be nothing more than a publicity stunt.

Mercedes-Benz chairman Dieter Zetsche told News Corp Australia in Europe overnight he is not having “sleepless nights” over recent reports that Apple is hiring engineers from the car industry to develop a vehicle that drives itself.

When asked if the rumour was deliberately leaked to generate publicity for Apple, Mr Zetsche said: “I could guess that is the very reason why these rumours are spread. Other than that I don’t find any rationale.”

The Mercedes-Benz boss admitted: “I don’t know their strategy and I don’t know what they’re doing (but) I would be very surprised if that proved to be right.”

I would be very surprised if that proved to be right.

The straight-talking boss also said there was as much chance of Mercedes-Benz getting into the smartphone business as there was of Apple making cars.

“I guess when there would be a rumour that Mercedes or Daimler plans to start building smartphones they would not be sleepless at night, and the same applies to me,” said Mr Zetsche.

Apple, one of the most profitable businesses on the planet, would be horrified once it found just how slim the profit margins were in the car industry, said Mr Zetsche. Typically the big automotive brands call it a good year if they make 3 per cent profit on their turnover.

“I mean why (would Apple) with this kind of margin go into this business?” asked Mr Zetsche.

“I think investors would hate it because they don’t like conglomerates, they want focused management on what they understand and perhaps some neighbouring fields, not somewhere different (such as cars),” said Mr Zetsche.

“The fact that you can listen to iTunes in a car doesn’t make it something which is in itself consistent (with developing an entire car). And this is full of respect for Apple,” he said.