Elon Musk: ‘If You Don’t Make It at Tesla, You Go Work at Apple. I’m Not Kidding.’
This week, Bloomberg reported that Apple has sunset plans to create an EV. After the decade-long endeavor beginning in 2014, some Apple Car staff will be let go while others are rerouted to its AI sector.
In response to the news, Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted a salute emoji and a cigarette on X.
This isn’t the first time he’s added commentary to the Apple Car narrative.
In 2015, Elon Musk got snarky during an interview with Handelsblatt, a German news outlet. While positively reinforcing Apple’s attempt at an EV, he simultaneously poked at Apple’s lack of know-how in the EV space.
In the interview, he called Apple a “Tesla graveyard.” He went on to say, “If you don’t make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple. I’m not kidding,” according to Business Insider.
The remarks resurface with a years-old exchange between Apple and Tesla over a possible acquisition. This week, the New York Times reported that in 2020, Musk had conditioned the acquisition to seat him as the CEO of all of Apple.
Musk did tweet in 2020 that he had asked for a meeting with Cook but that Cook had refused. Musk and Cook have, until recently, denied ever speaking directly to each other, says 9to5Mac.
Ultimately, insiders say, discussions between the companies did happen, but Apple decided to build its own car.
Musk has faced many of his own challenges in the EV space, to the displeasure of Tesla’s core customers and investors.
Most recently, his remarks on the eye-widening specs of the promised Tesla Roadster seem a distraction from the company’s near-urgent need for an entry-level EV in its lineup.
