Last night, the internet was awash with reports that American multinational technology company Apple was poised to buy McLaren Automotive. But now the British automaker has denied that such talks are taking place.
“We can confirm that McLaren is not in discussion with Apple in respect of any potential investment,” a spokesperson for the automaker said.
“As you would expect, the nature of our brand means we regularly have confidential conversations with a wide range of parties, but we keep them confidential.”
He was reacting to reports, all stemming from a Financial Times article, suggesting that the iPhone-maker could pay up to £1,5-billion (around R26,5-billion) for the Woking-based automaker.
The Financial Times cited three unnamed sources in its report. As has become customary, Apple – which is rumoured to be working on its own self-driving, electric vehicle – declined to comment on the report.
Jalopnik, meanwhile, quoted a separate McLaren source as saying: “It’s not true at all. There’s no chatter, there’s no acquisition”.
