New electric car company could be a ‘front’ for Apple
The latest reports on the web claim that a new car manufacturer, Faraday Future, could, in fact, be a front for Apple’s rumoured electric car, allowing the company to develop the vehicle without the prying eyes of the media watching them.
The company plans to create an electric vehicle, while it also explores “other aspects of the automotive and technology industries, including unique ownership and usage models, in-vehicle content and autonomous driving”. That’s according to Nick Sampson, senior vice president of Faraday Future, who continued to say "Our range of 100% electric and intelligent vehicles will offer seamless connectivity to the outside world." Very Apple-esque, wouldn’t you agree?
So, where is the connection to Apple? First things first, the company claims to have a team of around 400 “automotive and technology experts” along with a number of key employees, including ex-Tesla director of vehicle chassis engineering, Nick Sampson. This matches up with the reports earlier this year claiming that Apple was poaching a number of Tesla staff for its iCar project – but that’s not all.
Apple has reportedly just bought a huge amount of land in California, which is claimed to be around twice the size of its new Spaceship campus. Just to put that into perspective, Apple’s spaceship campus and surrounding land measures in at around 2.8 million feet. Now, where did Faraday Future say they’d be investing in a manufacturing facility? Oh…
The company has also received a massive $1 billion in funding – a move that’s almost unheard of for a new company, and many suspect that it’s Apple footing the bill. Apple has around $200 billion in the bank, so $1 billion would (as ridiculous as it sounds) be only a drop in the water for the company. The rumours gained more traction when the New York Times reached out for more information on its backers, with Faraday Future claiming that they are “keeping their partners confidential”. Intriguing, right? Well, there’s one more piece to this puzzle…
The CEO of the company has not yet been revealed, a move that shrouds this company in mystery. If Faraday Future is a front for Apple’s iCar development, it’d make sense not to announce a CEO; pushing an Apple exec to the position of Faraday Future CEO would immediately give away the company’s plans, possibly years before the launch of its electric car.
Of course, nothing has been confirmed or denied, and it does seem like a lot of effort to disguise its own efforts, but it is possible – and if it was going to be any company, it would, of course, be Apple to do it.