Musk Attempts To Backtrack On Anti-Apple Crack

Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk has been dropping quite a bit of shade on Apple over the past few months, claiming the company is a graveyard for sacked Tesla employees and that he is not afraid of a car built by the same engineers that created the Apple Watch.

On Twitter earlier today, he backtracked on those claims, saying he does not hate the company. Musk said that Apple had a lot of talented engineers, the Apple Watch has an excellent design, and he is glad they’re working on an electric car.

Sidestepping the fact Apple has not confirmed it is working on an electric car, Musk’s comments are rather usual whenever anyone attacks Apple. The screenwriter of Steve Jobs, Aaron Sorkin recently lashed out at Tim Cook over his comments, claiming he has “some nerve”, before retracting and saying Apple is a fine company.

Whether this is a late night phone call from Cook or the ranting and raving of millions of Apple-fanboys, we aren’t sure, but Musk clearly had a change of heart after revealing some of the inner details of Apple’s hiring process.

Musk still isn’t worried about Apple entering the electric car market however, claiming that the market needs more competitors. Apple might also be able to force car manufacturers to start investing heavily in renewable energy, rather than outputting the minimum required cars.

Tesla is rolling out the Model X, its third car and the first all-electric SUV, this month. The company has plans to launch the Model 3, a £25,000 electric car, by 2017. That is before the Apple car will arrive, according to earlier reports citing a 2020 launch date.