Tesla CEO Elon Musk sat down with German newspaper Handelsblatt (via Business Insider), and shared his thoughts on Apple’s much-rumored vehicle, as well as what he thought of Apple’s hiring of former Tesla engineers.
When asked about the fact Apple kept hiring Tesla engineers, Musk didn’t bother to spare anyone’s feelings:
“They have hired people we’ve fired,” Musk said. “We always jokingly call Apple the ‘Tesla Graveyard.’ If you don’t make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple. I’m not kidding.”
As far as Apple’s car-building plans, while saying it was “the next logical thing” for the Cupertino firm, he didn’t seem to take them seriously as a threat.
“Did you ever take a look at the Apple Watch?” Musk said. “No, seriously: It’s good that Apple is moving and investing in this direction. But cars are very complex compared to phones or smartwatches.”
Musk cautions that cars are far more complex than smartphones and smartwatches. “You can’t just go to a supplier like Foxconn and say: Build me a car,” Musk told the newspaper.
