Tesla Motor News: Apple Gets Serious In E-Car Production; Nabs Tesla's Former VP Of Engineering
All clues are now clearly pointing out to Apple's plan to become, aside from being a world-renowned tech manufacturer, a car maker. In fact, it looks like the Cupertino-based tech mammoth is intending to build their auto-engineering organization with highly experienced talents.
The electric vehicle (EV) media outlet, Electrek, revealed that the iPhone maker has hired ex Tesla Motors employee, Chris Porritt, to spearhead the company's "special project" which could be none other than Apple's purported automobile project, called "Project Titan."
The person in question formerly served as the Vice President of vehicle engineering for Elon Musk's car industry. He also has worked as a principal engineer at Land Rover and with Aston Martin as a chief engineer.
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His stint at Aston Martin brought about the design of the One-77 supercar before he joined Tesla three years after where he reportedly worked on the Model S and the Model X. Moreover, his name is also credited to the chassis development of the recently-outed Model 3.
Sources for the publication added that Porritt has been given the vague title in Apple as "Special Projects Group PD Administrator." However, his expertise in the automotive industry suggests that he could be playing a major role in the "Project Titan."
In fact, insiders have revealed that a number of senior Apple engineers, including Product Development Engineering Director, Albert Golko, will be reporting directly to Porritt. Aside from the mentioned name, Apple engineer Emery Sanford, will also be joining the team under Porritt's leadership.
Recent reports from numerous tech publications seem to hint that Apple's purported EV will hit the market sometime in 2019. Despite the speculations, it is believed that the "Apple car" might not come out as an autonomous car.
For the meantime, Tesla's new Model 3 has now reportedly reached 400,000 pre-orders. According to Ubergizmo.com, the number was announced during Tesla VP for Business Development, Diarmuid O' Connell's visit in Amsterdam. The car is priced at $35,000 excluding federal and state tax benefits.
