Apple Hires Former Tesla Vice President of Vehicle Engineering Chris Porritt

Apple has hired Christ Porritt, former Tesla VP of Vehicle Engineering and former Aston Martin Chief Engineer, to work on 'special projects', reports Electrek. Special projects is where Apple's rumored electric car is said to be under development.

The news comes following a report earlier this year that Apple Car Project Leader Steve Zadesky was leaving the company.

If Zadesky indeed left the company, it would make newly hired Porritt Apple’s most senior “car guy” and a likely candidate to lead the Cupertino company’s electric car initiative. While his expertise could be useful in plenty of hardware engineering roles, he had a focus on vehicle dynamics, vehicle architecture and vehicle packaging throughout his long career.


Electrek says there was a few months between Porritt leaving Tesla and joining Apple. His title at Apple is a deliberately vague, 'Special Projects Group PD Administrator'. Some senior Apple engineers including Product Development Engineering Director Albert Golko and prolific engineer Emery Sanford are said to report directly to Porritt now.

Apple appears to be moving forward quite quickly with its car project. Yesterday, a report from FAZ revealed that the company has another secret lab in Berlin to design and develop the rumored vehicle. Sources tell the site there are concrete plans for the introduction of the vehicle.

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