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Elon Musk says it’s an “open secret” Apple is making an electric car, will be “compelling”

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During an interview at Tesla’s design Studio in Los Angeles, Tesla CEO Elon Musk commented on Apple’s rumored electric vehicle program, codenamed “Project Titan“. It was hardly the first time the CEO commented on the project, but it always interesting to hear about the possibility of Apple bringing an electric car to market. This time Musk called the project under-development an “open secret” and agreed that Apple is “serious about it.”

While talking with BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones about Apple’s rumored car, Musk said:

“It’s pretty hard to hide something if you hire over a thousand engineers to do it.”

Reports came out last year of a so-called “poaching war” between Tesla and Apple over automotive engineers. Following the reports, Musk didn’t have eulogistic words for Apple’s new hires:

“They have hired people we’ve fired. We always jokingly call Apple the ‘Tesla Graveyard.’ If you don’t make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple.”

The next day Musk took to Twitter to soften his comments about the company:

[tweet https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/652605371857530880 align=”center”]

During the BBC interview, Musk reiterated his content that Apple is jumping in the EV industry, which is in line with Tesla’s mission to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport. As usual, he warned of the difficulty of building an electric vehicle, but this time he added some optimism to what Apple could bring to market:

“Companies like Apple will probably make a compelling electric car.”

Musk’s comment about Project Titan being an “open secret” in the industry follows a recent report confirming that Apple registered three new car-themed domain names, which just keep adding to the evidence that Apple is developing an electric vehicle.

Meanwhile, here's what Steve Wozniak is up to...

Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153994585921282&set=a.125548596281.138721.709846281&type=3">here’s what</a> Steve Wozniak is up to…

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Comments

  1. taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

    Breaking news water is still wet.

    You hire e gingers away from several auto companies tsp pretty obvious you are working on an electric car.

    Hooray

  2. calisurfboy - 8 years ago

    As if the price of a car was not high enough, introducing the Apple iMobile for a low low price of $99,999. Its great for innovation though and forcing other car makers to push the boundaries of technology and innovation.

  3. Jake Becker - 8 years ago

    Yo.

  4. florinnica - 8 years ago

    I am pretty sure Apple won’t sell any cars. Not because they will be bad, but because that won’t be their business model.

  5. Could Apple just designing their component transfer system so no more outside people handling their parts and products? (Kinda like Wall E, just bigger, and no compression feature)
    I mean, if Apple want to secure their supply chain for 3 months to prep enough stock, the first thing they would do is reduce human workers moving their next gen component.
    And Apple just doesn’t seem want to play with numerous government rules from numerous countries and regions. (Think about it, Apple Watch has the ability of being oximeter, but they just let that sits there. )

  6. alfredprunesquallor - 8 years ago

    I doubt Apple will sell CARS to the consumer, they will sell RIDES.

  7. Robert - 8 years ago

    Musk has made it relatively easy for Apple (or anyone) to make an electric car by opening up all of Tesla’s patents, making them free for anyone to use. Musk gunuinely wants to see other companies make electric cars.

  8. Ah! The Apple Car… one of the wonders of this world… wait.. it doesn’t exist yet? I mean… how could that be? We’ve heard about it and seen all the detailed leaked information for a year now!

    Haven’t you understood how Apple works yet? They throw multiple rumors out there just to detract attention from what they REALLY work on… The next US Army H1 Hummer replacement powered by Elon Musk’s smugness!

    Bottom line… i’ll see what they work on whenever it’ll be out. Until then… I hate spoilers…

    • Gareth Zahir-Bill - 8 years ago

      “Bottom line… i’ll see what they work on whenever it’ll be out. Until then… I hate spoilers…”

      so why do you read an apple rumours site?

  9. Graham J - 8 years ago

    Waiting for someone in Apple news to figure out why Apple opened an office in Ottawa…

Author

Avatar for Fred Lambert Fred Lambert

Fred is the Editor in Chief and Main Writer at Electrek. He sometimes contributes to 9to5mac and 9to5Google.