Apple Executives Unhappy With Car Unit 'Project Titan,' New Report Says

Apple Inc. AAPL investors received some unexpected news last Friday when The Wall Street Journal reported the head of the company's electric car project Steve Zadesky was leaving the company because of personal reasons. There may be more to the story.

"Apple has placed a hiring freeze on the team responsible for the company's nascent automotive ambitions after executives became unhappy with the project's direction and progress," a new report from Apple Insider said on Monday.

According to the outlet, these changes came after a progress review held by Apple design head Jony Ive, who "expressed his displeasure" with the progress of the project, also known as "Project Titan."

The company had previously hired over 1,000 people to work on Project Titan, a move that was reported to have a negative impact on Tesla Motors Inc TSLA's product development.

It remains to be seen if the latest reports affects Apple's timeline for Project Titan. The WSJ reported in September that Apple was targeting a shipping date in 2019 for the car.

Musk: Apple Car Would Help Industry

While Apple itself has not confirmed it is creating a car, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told BBC on January 11 that Apple is indeed working on a form of competition. "It's pretty hard to hide something if you hire over a thousand engineers to do it," Musk said at the time.

"Tesla will still aspire to make the most compelling electric vehicles, and that would be our goal, while at the same time helping other companies to make electric cars as well," he added.

Musk doesn't see Apple as a threat, but as a force that will "expand" the electric vehicles market.