As technology giants Apple and Google edge towards the fast lane of carmaking, Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault-Nissan, insisted that traditional automakers did not feel threatened. Google has already set the industry abuzz with its electric, self-driving cars, and the market is filled with rumors of Apple following suit. But speaking to CNBC at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Ghosn said the auto business was not attractive to tech giants on the hunt for high profit margins. "Unfortunately, it is not an extremely profitable industry," he said.

"It's an industry that requires a lot of investment and unfortunately it doesn't have so much high return. I would say the classical car industry is an area not very attractive for people in the high-tech who are making very interesting margins."

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Carlos Ghosn, ousted Nissan chairman. Chesnot | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Ghosn said he did not expect a Google - or even an Apple – vehicle to come to market any time soon.

Instead, he said Google's move into the area was more to do with it getting in on the "technological evolution" of the car industry. Tech companies like Microsoft and Intel are interested in cars, "because they see it as a very important object, where quite a lot of technology can be put in," he added. Mr Ghosn isn't the only car company chief to watch Apple and the speculation surrounding it building a car with interest. Talking to CNBC at the Geneva Motor Show, in Switzerland, Ian Robertson, member of the board of management at BMW, said "I look at all competition equally, whether they're new players or existing players." "One thing about BMW is we tend to not look over our shoulder, we tend to look to the future and we tend to shape our own future." Discussing Apple as competition, Robertson said "the barriers of the past are maybe lower, as we go into the future, but at the same time, the car market is a very complicated one. There are some new players in the market that are making some headway. Let's see what happens." Read More

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