The smoke surrounding rumors of an Apple-branded vehicle has begun to thicken, as a new report says that Apple is indeed working on an all-electric vehicle that would take the shape of a minivan, with a huge team tasked to the project.

Apple has given the project codename "Titan," according to the Wall Street Journal. The company is said to have "several hundred" employees working in the group.

Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly green-lighted the project almost a year ago, and company executives have already begun to meet with potential contract manufacturers, including Canadian firm Magna Steyr. Apple iPod and iPhone designer Steve Zadesky, formerly of Ford, is said to be running the project.

The team — which has its own development facility away from the main Infinite Loop campus — could eventually swell to some 1,000 employees, and Zadesky has been given free reign to pull talent from any existing Apple group. Zadesky's group is reportedly researching "robotics, metals and materials consistent with automobile manufacturing."

The Journal's report follows hours after a similar missive from the Financial Times, which revealed a "top-secret research lab" staffed with automotive executives. Among those who have made the move is former Mercedes-Benz R&D head Johann Jungwirth, who joined Apple as a Mac systems engineering leader last fall.

Apple design chief Jony Ive is believed to have been personally recruiting automotive executives. Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed earlier that Apple has tried "very hard" to poach engineers from the electric carmaker, offering $250,000 bonuses and 60 percent pay raises.

Rumors of an Apple-branded vehicle have been around for years, but began to gather steam when Apple was revealed as the company behind a fleet of mysterious sensor-laden vans which have appeared around the U.S. in recent months. Those vans, which are almost certainly designed for data collection to augment Apple's mapping service, are unlikely to be directly related to any potential vehicle project, which is likely years away from production.

With the total U.S. car market valued at over $500 billion per year, taking just a 10 percent share would represent a new $50 billion revenue opportunity for Apple, according to one analyst.

Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray noted that Edmunds estimates 16.4 million new cars were sold in America in 2014, while TrueCar says the average selling price of a vehicle in the U.S. was just over $31,000 in the month of August. Using these numbers, he has estimated the U.S. car market currently reaches over $500 billion in sales per year.

If Apple could achieve just a "moderate success" of 10 percent in the U.S. car market, Munster said it could mean $50 billion in new revenue for the Cupertino, Calif., company. That would be a massive increase of 23 percent over his current estimates for fiscal year 2015.

Munster said early feedback from investors on the prospect of a so-called "Apple Car" has been positive. He believes many on Wall Street continue to wonder what new product categories could "move the needle" for a company the size of Apple.

"We believe the potential for a car gives investors something, along with the Watch and TV, to look at as the next big thing for Apple," he wrote. "We believe this hope should be positive for the multiple on shares of AAPL and help support the stock over the next six months."

Wall Street's reactions come in response to a series of reports that have claimed Apple has been working on developing a self-driving autonomous car. The company is said to have several-hundred workers designing a new electric car code-named "Titan."

Separately, a number of minivans said to be owned by Apple have been spotted in the wild, though it's unknown what their actual purpose may be. Given that the mysterious vehicles would require special permits if they were actually self-driving automobiles, it's more likely that Apple is using them to improve its Maps service.

As for why all of the car-related rumors are surfacing now, Munster believes that the information may be coming to light as a way for Apple to "provide investors with some insight... without making any public statements." Doing so might help investors confidently hold on to their stock in the company, with the belief that new and big things are in the works.

"We believe that floating the potential of a car now could be to help investors dream about the type of projects yet to come from Apple," he said.

Given all the news reports this week about Apple building an electric car, there's a funny and telling anecdote about Apple designer Jony Ive in a New Yorker profile published today.

Ive and profile writer Ian Packer were riding in Ive's chauffeured Bentley on I-280, a beautiful but busy stretch of highway that cuts through Silicon Valley.

"There are some shocking cars on the road," Ive said, indicating a Toyota Echo.

Packer asked him to elaborate.

"It is baffling, isn’t it? It’s just nothing, isn’t it? It’s just insipid."

The comment came as part of a larger conversation about carelessness in design. Ive hates the fact that so many current products seem to be designed to be "different, not better," or made only with cost and schedule in mind, with not enough attention to how they look and work.

"So much of our manufactured environment testifies to carelessness," he said. "At the risk of sounding terribly sentimental, I do think one of the things that just compel us is that we have this sense that, in some way, by caring, we’re actually serving humanity."

Ive has apparently been complaining about the design of cars for years, according to his friend, designer Marc Newson. Whatever Apple is working on, you can expect it to look quite different from most of the cars on the road today.

MacRumors has obtained footage of a mysterious van with rooftop cameras, reportedly leased to Apple, driving down a side street in Palo Alto, California. The video surfaces amid rumors that Apple may be working on an electric car, street view or both.

Just a few weeks ago, the idea that Apple might make a car seemed like an outlandish rumour. Today, it's accepted by many as gospel. Numerous reports have filtered through in recent days, providing more detail on Apple's automotive ambitions.

Of course, nothing has been confirmed yet. The Apple Car would be a massive, multi-year undertaking. But here's what we've heard so far:

It's called Project Titan. The detail comes via a report from the Wall Street Journal.

It's an electric car. This puts the company in competition with Tesla, which develops cutting edge electric-powered vehicles. VC and entrepreneur Jason Calacanis has predicted Apple will acquire Tesla in 18 months — for an eye-watering $75 billion. Apple CEO Tim Cook has also expressed a repeated interest in renewable energy. The company recently announced it's building a $850 million solar plant to power its California operations.

It looks like a minivan. The prototype could be subject to change before it hits the roads, however.

Apple has hundreds of people working on Project Titan, including senior figures from the automotive industry. This includes former Ford engineer Steve Zadesky, who helped build the iPhone. There's also Johann Jungwirth, who was Mercedes Benz's R&D chief before being hired by Apple in September 2014.

Apple employees have been working on Project Titan for more than a year, and this team has permission to grow to 1,000-strong. This is backed up by a previous FT report, which claimed Apple has "dozens" of employees working at a "new top-secret research lab" — and is "recruiting experts in automotive technology and vehicle design."

It might be self-driving. A source told Reuters that "it's a software game. It's all about autonomous driving." The Cupertino company is reportedly "is talking to experts at carmakers and automotive suppliers."

Apple has been trying hard to recruit from Tesla. The two companies are locked in a hiring war, according to a Bloomberg report, with Apple offering $250,000 starting bonuses and 60% pay bumps. A Mac Observer report expanded on this, saying that Apple is specifically looking for people "with expertise that is most suited to cars." According to LinkedIn, Apple has at least 50 former Tesla employees on the books.

It's been common knowledge for some time — if you move in the right circles. Mac Observer's Bryan Chaffin says that a source tells him "a lot of people at the top in Silicon Valley consider it a given that Apple is working on a car." Chaffin himself is "[close] to 100 percent" certain the rumours are true.

Apple design chief Jony Ive has been complaining about American cars for years. The claim comes via a 2014 interview with designer Marc Newson, one of Ive's friends. Newson has previously designed a concept car for Ford, and joined Apple last year to work on "special projects." Ive also owns a fleet of classic cars.

Apple employees say they're working on something that will "give Tesla a run for its money." An Apple employee emailed us last week to say that "Apple's latest project is too exciting to pass up... I think it will change the landscape and give Tesla a run for its money." It's possible they were talking about CarPlay, however — Apple's initiative to have people be able to control car entertainment systems with the iPhone.

A car registered to Apple has been spotted driving around the Bay Area decked out with a high-tech camera rig. Speculation is divided as to whether it's just for a forthcoming Google Street View competitor — or is an experiment in self-driving car technology.

Last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook said "there are products we're working on no-one knows about." The comments were made in an interview with Charlie Rose. "And part of some of those are going to come out and be blow-away, probably," Cook added.

Steve Jobs also wanted to build a car. Before his death, he told the New York Times that "that if he had more energy, he would have liked to take on Detroit with an Apple car." In an interview last year, Apple board member Mickey Drexler also said that Jobs, "if he had lived, was gonna design an iCar... I think cars have an extraordinary opportunity for cool design."

The leaks might be deliberate. There's been a flurry of Apple Car news over the last week — and analyst Gene Munster thinks this is on purpose. He argues that it allows Apple to "provide investors with some insight into Apple's coming plans without making any public statements." It signals to them that Apple has room to grow, after its record-breaking sales in Q4 2014.

We won't see a commercial model for years. Assuming the rumours are true, with Project Titan's research facility only set up last year, a commercial roll-out is still a long way off.

Apple is reportedly working on an electric vehicle, codenamed "Titan."

If it ever reaches the market, Apple's car will doubtlessly bear the influence of the company's chief designer, Jony Ive.

Ive is a car fan who's owned a number of interesting and expensive rides, according to a biography of him by Leander Kahney.

Fiat 500

Fiat 600

Austin-Healey Sprite

Aston Martin DB9

Aston Martin Vanquish

Bentley Brooklands

Bentley Mulsanne

Land Rover LR3

Land Rover Range Rover

Dan Akerson, retired CEO of General Motors, said Apple Inc. should steer clear of the business of making cars, though a push into automobile electronics would be a better move for the iPhone maker.

Apple shares rose to a record on Tuesday after people familiar with the matter last week said the technology company is working to develop its own electric car, rocking the automotive industry.

“I think somebody is kind of trying to cough up a hairball here,” Akerson said in a telephone interview. “If I were an Apple shareholder, I wouldn’t be very happy. I would be highly suspect of the long-term prospect of getting into a low-margin, heavy-manufacturing” business.

The car industry, with regulatory and safety requirements, is harder than people realize, Akerson said.

“A lot of people who don’t ever operate in it don’t understand and have a tendency to underestimate,” he said.

For Apple, there’s more potential in teaming up with automakers to produce the electronic operating systems and entertainment equipment for vehicles, similar to how car companies buy headlamps from other suppliers.

“I would’ve signed it over” to Apple, he said of his days as GM’s CEO. “I’d have turned over the infotainment and interconnectivity of every GM car.”

Tom Neumayr, an Apple spokesman, declined to comment. The company hasn’t discussed its car work.

In-car technology

Akerson, 66, led GM from 2010 until last year, when he stepped down to care for his wife. As CEO, he pushed the automaker to move faster to implement new technologies in its vehicles, including 4G broadband cellular service, and to expand the company’s electric-car offerings.

“Look at the margins of an iPhone versus a car,” he said. “I’d rather have the margins associated with the phone and produce” 74.5 million of the devices, as Apple did last quarter, he said.

Apple reported net income of $18 billion for the quarter that ended in December, along with gross margin of 40 percent. GM posted a profit before cash preferred dividends of $1.99 billion during the same period, and its gross margin -- the percentage of sales left after subtracting production costs -- was 14 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The automaker was hurt last year by record recalls, including an ignition-switch defected linked to at least 56 deaths.

Apple’s surge

Optimism about Apple has been growing since CEO Tim Cook revealed larger-screened, pricier iPhones in September, helping to fuel record profits and adding to the company’s cash hoard, which totaled $178 billion at the end of December. The company’s market value stands at about $745 billion, making it the world’s largest company by that measure.

The company’s secretive electric-vehicle project, code-named Titan, resembles a minivan, a person with knowledge of the company said last week. The effort may not lead to the company introducing an automobile.

Akerson himself was new to the auto industry when he joined the company’s board as part of the U.S. government-backed bankruptcy reorganization in 2009. He had spent his previous career in the telecommunication industry, including time as president of MCI Communications Corp. and CEO of Nextel Communications Inc., General Instrument Corp. and NextLink Communications Inc., which became XO Communications Inc.

“They’d better think carefully if they want to get into the hard-core manufacturing,” he said of Apple. “We take steel, raw steel, and turn it into car. They have no idea what they’re getting into if they get into that.”

Apple Inc., which has been working secretly on a car, is pushing its team to begin production of an electric vehicle as early as 2020, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The timeframe -- automakers typically spend five to seven years developing a car -- underscores the project’s aggressive goals and could set the stage for a battle for customers with Tesla Motors Inc. and General Motors Co., both of which are targeting a 2017 release of an electric vehicle that can go more than 200 miles on a single charge and cost less than $40,000.

“That’s the inflection point -- the proving ground -- that brings on the electric age,” Steve LeVine, author of “The Powerhouse,” a book about the automotive battery industry, said on Bloomberg TV Thursday. “Now you have Apple coming in and this is critical mass. Was GM really going to be able to match Tesla? Apple can.”

Apple, which posted record profit of $18 billion during the past quarter, has $178 billion in cash with few avenues to spend it. The Cupertino, California-based company’s research and development costs were $6.04 billion in the past year, and Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook is facing increased pressure to return cash to shareholders. The CEO has been pushing the iPhone maker to enter new categories to further envelop users’ digital lives with Apple’s products and services.

Apple’s possible foray into cars follows a similar path it’s taken to break into other industries. The company wasn’t the first to make a digital-music player or smartphone, and only entered those markets once it had a product that redefined those categories.
Apple representatives declined to comment for this story.

Car Team

Tesla’s success in creating a startup car company has shown that the traditional barriers of entry into the auto industry aren’t as difficult to overcome as originally thought, said one person, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. At the same time, automakers have struggled to bring technical leaps to car development, something that Silicon Valley is also seeking to accomplish. For example, Google Inc. has invested in developing an autonomous vehicle since 2010.

Apple may decide to scrap its car effort or delay it if executives are unhappy with progress, as they’ve done before with other secret projects, the people said. The car team, which already has about 200 people, began ramping up hiring within the past couple of months as the company sought out experts in technologies for batteries and robotics, said one of the people.

Battery Lawsuit

An experienced automaker typically spends five to seven years developing a new vehicle before bringing it to market, according to Dennis Virag, president of Automotive Consulting Group.

“If you’re starting from scratch, you’re probably talking more like 10 years,” Virag said. “A car is a very complex technological machine.”

A lawsuit filed this month gives a window into Apple’s efforts to create a automotive team for the project. Apple began around June an “aggressive campaign to poach” employees from A123 Systems LLC, the Waltham, Massachusetts-based battery maker said in a lawsuit against Apple filed this month.

Apple hired five people from A123 and has tried to hire battery experts from LG Chem Ltd, Samsung Electronics Co., Panasonic Corp., Toshiba Corp. and Johnson Controls Inc., according to the lawsuit.

“Apple is currently developing a large-scale battery division to compete in the very same field as A123,” the battery maker said in a separate state-court filing.

The recent hiring effort at A123 began with Mujeeb Ijaz, a former Ford Motor Co. engineer, who founded A123’s Venture Technologies division, which focused on materials research, cell product development and advanced concepts. He began at Apple in June and began hiring direct reports from A123’s venture technologies division, which he had headed.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk told Bloomberg Businessweek this month that Apple was seeking to hire away his workers, offering $250,000 signing bonuses and 60 percent salary increases.