Browse over 9,000 car reviews

Would you buy an iTesla? Elon Musk reveals how Apple could have bought Tesla for a steal - but dodged his phone calls

Elon Musk says Apple could have bought Tesla for a song.

Elon Musk has revealed how close he was to selling Tesla to Apple for an absolute song, with the EV brand’s boss claiming he was willing to off-load his business for around 10 per cent of its current value.

Yes, if Musk had his way, your next EV might have been an iTesla. In fact, Mush says he was so frazzled in the “darkness” that had consumed the roll-out of the Model 3 in 2017 that he set up a meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook with a plan to offer him the business at a cut price.

The move made some sense. Apple had been working on its own fleet of electric vehicle, ostensibly to rival Tesla, and so Musk thought he could give the company a head start.

Like almost everything we hear from Musk, this latest revelation came from the world of Twitter, where the Tesla boss wrote about the struggle to ramp up Model 3 production, and his willingness to off-load the company for just 10 per cent of its current value, or US$50-60b. For the record, Tesla’s market cap has been between US$500-$600b this year.

But there was an unexpected twist, with Musk unable to even get a meeting with Cook, let alone an opportunity to pitch his business.

"During the darkest days of the Model 3 program, I reached out to Tim Cook to discuss the possibility of Apple acquiring Tesla (for 1/10 of our current value)." Musk wrote.

“He refused to take the meeting.”

Still, it seems Musk will have the last laugh, having been crowned one of the world’s richest people, on paper, and shares in Tesla positively indestructible.