Manfred Harrer, the former VP of chassis development at Porsche, had previously worked for the Volkswagen Group for more than 13 years. He also overseen the development of Porsche’s Cayenne product line and according to a former Volkswagen manager, Harrer was considered to be a “hidden champion” and a “measure of all things in his field”, suggesting that Harrer’s role at the company was of great importance.
Harrer also has quite a bit of experience when it comes to cars and had also previously worked for BMW and Audi. Interestingly enough, Harrer’s LinkedIn profile still lists Porsche as his employer, although the report claims that there was a waiting period before he was able to start working for a new company, which in this case is said to be Apple.
While Apple has yet to confirm their hire, Harrer’s potential hire doesn’t come as a surprise. Apple has hired various experts and veterans from the car industry in the past, so if this latest hire were to be true, it does seem to be par for the course. In the meantime, there have been rumors suggesting that Hyundai could be one of the companies that will help Apple with the manufacturing process.