Apple Car Executive and Former Canoo CEO Ulrich Kranz Facing SEC Lawsuit - MacRumors
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Apple Car Executive and Former Canoo CEO Ulrich Kranz Facing SEC Lawsuit

Ulrich Kranz, the former CEO of electric car company Canoo and a key executive on the Apple Car team, is facing an SEC lawsuit, reports Bloomberg. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission believes that Kranz provided unreasonable revenue projections for Canoo and also misstated how much he was paid.

Apple car wheel icon feature yellow
Apple hired Ulrich Kranz back in 2021 for its Apple Car project. Kranz is known for founding self-driving car startup Canoo, and prior to that, he spent 30 years at BMW. Canoo is still around and may be most recognizable for its odd-looking "Lifestyle Vehicle," which has not yet been produced for the public.

Canoo has been struggling to stay afloat since Kranz left the company, but last month successfully delivered three electric vans to NASA, which will be used for the Artemis moon missions next year. The vehicles will transport astronauts, flight crew, and equipment to the launch pad ahead of the launch.

Kranz has not been involved with Canoo since early 2021, but the SEC is aiming to prevent him from serving as an officer at a public company going forward, which could potentially impact his future career trajectory at Apple.

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Top Rated Comments

37 months ago
In our emotionally packed, 24-hour news cycle of information overload, it is easy to act as judge, jury and executioner.

Despite what the papers say or not, despite what an investor paid him, or not, he is entitled to a fair trial; and not the trial of public opinion. Cancel culture is terrible, as it hurts people without providing the opportunity for a fair defense.

I think it would be wise for Apple to sit down with this guy and ask him what's up. If it smells bad, he may need to go on administrative leave while he sorts things out.

For the rest of us, let the SEC do their investigation and allow him to present evidence in his defense.

Too many people go down before they even have a chance to answer back which is not how a moral and just society functions.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
37 months ago
Innocent until proven guilty, anyone?
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sw1tcher Avatar
37 months ago

Whoops. Canoo was my fav of all the EV concepts I had seen, at that point. It also felt the most Apple-y EV concept. Anywho...
Both he and chief designer Richard Kim learned nothing about design while at BMW 🤮



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Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
37 months ago

read what I just posted, imho, no, not innocent ...
What you posted were allegations from the SEC. Until they can prove what they are alleging in court, the man should be considered innocent.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rpmurray Avatar
37 months ago

Both he and chief designer Richard Kim learned nothing about design while at BMW 🤮


If Apple was the one designing it they would put the charging port under the car.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
carboncocoa Avatar
37 months ago

In our emotionally packed, 24-hour news cycle of information overload, it is easy to act as judge, jury, and executioner.

Despite what the papers say or not, despite what an investor paid him or not, he is entitled to a fair trial, and not the trial of public opinion. Cancel culture is terrible, as it hurts people without the opportunity to provide a fair defence.

I think it would be wise for Apple to sit down with this guy and ask him what's up. If it smells bad, he may need to go on administrative leave while he sorts things out.

For the rest of us, let the SEC do its investigation and allow him to present evidence in defense.

Too many people go down before they even have a chance to answer back which is not how a moral and just society functions.
👏 Thank you for saying all of this. If we all take to heart what MacProFCP says here, our world would be a better place.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)