Is Apple Developing Its Car Under A Pseudonym?

Faraday Future teaser photo (Credit: Faraday Future)

Apple is known in the tech world for being super secretive about the development of its products. According to a new rumor that’s floating around, the company’s first foray into the automotive industry is just as clandestine, including the tech giant setting up a front company and engaging in other cloak-and-dagger measures.

It’s suspicious that some mysterious new electric automaker has emerged recently, called Faraday Future, which is considerably well-financed. According to a report from Apple Insider, the company only opened up shop a year ago at a former Nissan site, but already has amassed a workforce of 400 people.

While Faraday Future has an astoundingly large workforce for such a young company, that’s not the most impressive part. It has been able to attract considerable talent, including a former interior designer from Ferrari, the head designer of the BMW i8 and a battery specialist from SpaceX, to name a few. Who the CEO is remains a mystery.

That massive financing behind Faraday Future is allowing it to move forward with constructing a manufacturing facility in California that’s costing a cool $1 billion. Apple most definitely has that kind of money to throw around, and it has been cherry picking employees from Tesla like crazy (Elon Musk even tried to blow it off, saying that those who went to Apple couldn’t hack it at his company).

While this is all rumor, there’s enough evidence to make it quite believable. After all, what brand new automaker grows so fast and has that kind of money right out of the chute? Adding to the suspicious behavior is the fact that Faraday Future says it’s exploring a wide array of angles in the automotive and tech industries, as if it were crossing the line between the two. It’s doubtful Hewlett Packard or pretty much any other tech giant would be behind the move, leaving Apple as the obvious candidate.

Other reports are casting doubt on the Apple theory, which would mean another big electric automaker is entering the picture. TechCrunch claims the company is backed by LeTV, which is a Netflix-style service from China. The tech website procured a report that shows LeTV purchased the automaker’s facility in California, and confirms that the Chinese firm has no love for Apple.

Tesla should be scared, because it might finally have an opponent that can meet it on equal ground, and it’s not even Apple. Faraday Future says it will have an electric car on the road by 2017, with a range that exceeds 300 miles.