Apple Challenges Tesla with Secret Electric Car Project

Rumors of a secret Apple-branded electric car project leaked this weekend, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the story.

Code-named Titan, several hundred Apple employees have been working on this project for months. Although Apple declined to comment on the story, the source says that, given the size of the team, as well as the status of people who are working on the project, it is likely that this project will go through.

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, approved the project over a year ago, giving it to Vice President Steve Zadesky to manage. Zadesky, aside from being a former Ford engineer, helped lead the Apple teams that created the iPod and the iPhone.

According to the Wall Street Journal's source:

Mr. Zadesky was given permission to create a 1,000-person team and poach employees from different parts of the company, one of the people familiar with the matter said. Working from a private location a few miles from Apple’s corporate headquarters in Cupertino, the team is researching different types of robotics, metals and materials consistent with automobile manufacturing, the people said.

Apple's interest in developing an electric car seems to be threefold. For one, any research and development they do on electric power could theoretically be used to develop better batteries for their own products. The source says that this new project has also persuaded Apple employees to stay at the company, as it gives them an opportunity to work on a very creative project, without the expectation of a new product every year.

Perhaps most of all, this project has the opportunity to give Apple the cutting-edge ethos that its brand was synonymous with after the debut of the iPhone and iPod, but which maybe it hasn't lived up to in the past few years.

As for the make of the car, the source says it looks like a minivan, while some others speculate that the car will look this . Either way, it doesn't sound like Apple will be giving Tesla a run for their money in the style department. Unless maybe the car has an insane button .