Apple’s official field of expertise is smartphones and computers. However, the world leader of its kind has previously made its interest in building a car, known.
The famous iCar, is more than just a project designed in papers that got sandwiched in a drawer. It’s the company’s most recent ambition and from the looks of it, we may find ourselves waiting in endless lines to acquire Apple’s vehicle much sooner than expected.
In more details, according to the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgeimene Zeitun, the American colossus has established a secret lab in Berlin which has already been staffed with specialized corporate officers, all top of their kind.
Among them works Chris Porritt, Tesla’s former vice president and Aston Martin’s ex chief engineer.
Mr. Porritt has a bulk portfolio with some of Aston Martin’s most successful models in it, such as the One-77, the V12 Zagato and the beautiful DB9. As for Tesla, he partook in the designing of Model S and X.
Knowing that Apple has such capable hands and minds at its side seems promising at the very least. However, we have to notice that it did not come as a surprise, since the iPhone maker had made clear from the beginning that for this project, they were targeting Tesla’s staff.
In fact, Elon Musk, Tesla’s president responded with a rather caustic comment saying that seeing Apple hiring fired staff by Tesla, the latter company has an inside joke according to which those who don’t make it there, can always try their luck with Apple.
When interviewed Mr. Musk’s exact words were: “[…] Important engineers? 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. I’m not kidding.”
Then, when asked if he’s taking “Apple’s ambitions seriously,” the Tesla chief said: “Did you ever take a look at the Apple Watch?”
Another unconfirmed report is that Apple has also hired Tesla’s former VP of vehicle engineering Chris Porritt.
But wind whispers do not stop here. According to some anonymous sources, the so called iCar will be built in Austria by Canadian global automotive supplier Magna. Rumour has it that the smallish vehicle will be introduced to the German market sometime between 2019 and 2020.
Of course, as all well informed Apple fans should know by now, the company has a certain tactic for all of its under-development projects, which is not to respond to any comments. There have also been times, when Apple even contradicted rumours that turned out to be true later on.
The cloak of mystery will faint as time goes by. In terms of business, one thing is certain; judging by Apple’s tendency for success in almost any project they work on – except the Apple Watch – the project Titan (that’s how the iCar is codenamed) should make Apple’s already high share on the market skyrocket.
For some sceptics, this is against the odds, since the automotive industry is uncharted waters for the American king of smartphones and electronics. Still, let’s keep in mind that with the electric cars becoming more of a trend now than ever before, Apple has a considerable obvious advantage.
Sources:
drive.gr, capital.gr , macworld.co.uk , 9to5Mac.com
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/netzwirtschaft/apple-steve-jobs/apple-icar-entwicklung-in-geheimem-autolabor-in-berlin-14183854.html
