- According to new reports, Apple is abandoning its electric car project, and Elon Musk has something to say.
- The Tesla chief posted a hello face emoji before acknowledging the challenges of building the cars.
- “The normal state of being a car company is dead,” Musk wrote in X on Tuesday.
Apple is killing its electric car program, and Elon Musk is here to deliver a eulogy.
The tech giant is pulling the plug on its decade-long electric car project, Bloomberg It was reported on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the matter. In response to the news, the Tesla CEO posted a hello face and cigarette emoji. X post On Tuesday.
“The normal state of being a car company is dead,” Musk wrote in another post Mail On Tuesday.
Many of the employees involved in the car project will now be transferred to the company's AI division, but according to Bloomberg, there could be layoffs among Apple's engineers and car designers.
The iPhone maker has been working on an electric car since 2014, but the vehicle's development has been plagued by leadership changes and launch delays.
Musk, of course, is no stranger to the difficulties of making an electric vehicle. The Tesla boss faced a lack of funding and production setbacks to build his cars.
Musk said in 2015 that even though Apple is a trillion dollar tech behemoth, he is not threatened by their interest in the electric car market.
“It's good that Apple is moving in this direction and investing. But cars are more complex compared to phones or smartwatches,” Musk told the German newspaper. Handelsblatt. “You can't go to suppliers like Foxconn and say, 'Build me a car.'”
Musk jokingly referred to Apple as a “Tesla graveyard” in the same interview.
“If you don't get into Tesla, you go work at Apple. I'm not kidding,” Musk told Handelsblatt.
Representatives for Apple and Musk did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours.
