Apple Car Rumors Reignite With Chrysler Exec Hire

Apple Car Rumors Reignite With Chrysler Exec Hire

Apple appears to be hedging its Betts in the electric vehicle department

             According to The Wall Street Journal, the company has hired Doug Betts, former head of global quality at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

Cupertino did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment. Betts's LinkedIn profile confirms his new position with Apple, though a specific job title was not disclosed.

The hire, however, has reignited discussion about Apple developing an electric car. Rumors about an effort, dubbed Titan, cropped up in February, with reports suggesting that Cupertino had "several hundred" employees working on an electric vehicle.

As the Journal noted this week, Apple hired former Ford exec Steve Zadesky to lead the Titan team. In recent months, it also secured Paul Furgale, a self-driving car researcher.

Betts, meanwhile, certainly knows his way around automobiles: After nearly 10 years as production manager at Michelin, he moved up to general manager of Toyota (eight years), then spent time as senior vice president of Nissan (three years), before taking on the same title at Chrysler (seven years).

Cupertino often experiments with technologies it never brings to market, but various sources suggest that the size of the project team (1,000+ people), and the senior management involved, indicate that Apple is serious about future car tech.

Apple's main competitor on this front is Tesla, which reportedlypoached a few Cupertino workers. Last year, Tesla chief Elon Musk had informal talks with execs at Apple, but denied any acquisition plans.