Apple hires Lamborghini exec to ramp up electric-car work: report

Lamborghini veteran Luigi Taraborrelli, who is said to handle the design of the imminent Apple EV, has recently been added to the Apple Car Team, a new report claimed.

A Bloomberg report stated that people familiar with Apple Inc.'s works divulged the addition of Taraborrelli at Apple Project Titan, the project handling the Apple Car development. The publication suggested that adding Lamborghini's top car development manager is a sign that the tech giant is stepping up its work on the self-driving electric vehicle.

However, the former Lamborghini car designer has not yet confirmed his alleged new position at Apple Inc. The Cupertino-based company, for its part, has also kept mum about Taraborrelli's alleged arrival.

During his time at Lamborghini, Luigi Taraborrelli worked primarily in the research and development division of the company. He served as the head of chassis and vehicle dynamics from January 2008 up to May 2022, as per his LinkedIn profile.

Bloomberg noted that Taraborrelli worked on Lamborghini models such as Aventador, Huracan and Urus. The veteran car designer also worked in marketing, vehicle development and validation.

To recall, Apple hired Desi Ujkashevic, a 31-year veteran of Ford Motor Co., to lead the vehicle-safety efforts for the car project. It also added Ulrich Kranz, former chief of Canoo and former leader of BMW's electric-car business.

If that is not enough, Apple also tapped former Tesla Inc. Autopilot chief Stuart Bowers to work on self-driving technology. The project has former senior design executives on staff from Aston Martin, Porshe, McLaren and Tesla, and hundreds of former engineers from other car companies, including Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Volvo Car AB, Waymo and Rivian Automotive Inc., among others.

Apple, which has been working on an electric car since 2014, is reportedly aiming to produce the self-driving car in 2025 with a design that lets drivers and passengers face each other in a limousine-like interior. The Tim Cook-led company hopes to create a car sans a steering wheel or pedals, relying instead on fully autonomous technology.

John Giannandrea, the company's head of machine learning, and Kevin Lynch, who oversees the Apple Watch and health software teams, currently lead the Apple Car project.