Apple Inc. and Tesla Motors Inc are surely not friends when it comes to poaching employees from each other. But an Apple employee recently noticed that Apple employees love the electric cars made by Tesla.
Tesla cars at Apple headquarters
A person who claims to be an Apple employee posted a picture of what appears to be a parking lot at Apple headquarters. The person posted the picture to Reddit on Thursday, and it shows a lot of Tesla cars. We see a Tesla Roadster, the company’s first electric car, a few Model X SUVs, which came out earlier this year, and a number of Model S cars in the photo.
Most of Apple’s offices around Silicon Valley are equipped with vehicle chargers. Also it is not shocking that Apple employees would prefer Tesla cars over those made by other automakers as the electric car making giant has drawn a good measure of inspiration from the iPhone maker. One Reddit user commented on the photo saying people call Teslas the “Palo Alto Camry.”
Maybe now the tech giant is drawing some inspiration from the electric car maker as it is rumored to be working on its own electric vehicle. We already know that Tesla thinks of Apple as an eventual direct competitor that could release its own electric cars by 2020.
Musk on Apple’s electric car
Previously, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said at Vox Media’s Code Conference that the iPhone maker will probably make a good vehicle and be successful. He added that they should have embarked on the project sooner. Last fall, The Wall Street Journal reported that the tech giant was developing an electric car under the name Project Titan and that it had already assigned a 2019 ship date. The tech giant, however, has not confirmed that it is working on a car.
“It’s great [Apple is] doing this, and I hope it works out,” Musk said, adding that the car market is big enough for more competitors. Musk said he expected to compete with traditional car making companies in electric cars but does not think any of the [traditional] automakers have made a good electric vehicle yet.
Previously, commenting on the poaching war between the companies, Musk referred to Apple as the “Tesla graveyard.” He also said that Apple’s building of an electric car is an “open secret.”
On Thursday, Apple shares closed down 0.06% at $107.93. Year to date, the stock is up almost 1%, while in the last year, it is down almost 7%.
