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Apple co-founder buys a Tesla Motors Model S

Apple co-founder and Silicon Valley luminary Steve Wozniak picked up his own Tesla Motors Model S electric luxury sedan Thursday. His Model S ownership isn't the only connection between Tesla Motors and Apple.

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Ann Hermes/The Christian Science Monitor/File
The Tesla Motors Model S electric car is shown in Boston.
  • By Stephen Edelstein Guest blogger

The Tesla Model S has become quite the automotive celebrity, and now one Model S has a new celebrity owner.

Apple co-founder and Silicon Valley luminary Steve Wozniak picked up his own Model S electric luxury sedan Thursday.

The news came via a tweet from the man himself, noting that he and two other new owners were taking delivery of their cars at the Tesla factory in Fremont, California.

The tech guru known as "Woz" had wanted a Model S electric car for some time. In an interview with ValueWalk earlier this year, Woz said he'd been dropping hints to his wife, hoping she'd get him a Model S for his birthday. 

"Every day, I sent her articles about the Model S consistently," he said at the time, "I have for a couple of years."

Better than Prius?

With luck, Woz will like his Tesla Model S more than the 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid he bought a few years ago.

Right in the midst of the Toyota unintended-acceleration debacle, Woz said that he had experienced that phenomenon in his own car.

However, Woz's Prius unintended acceleration may have just been the result of Toyota's unusual adaptive cruise control, and not a mechanical defect.

Toyota sent a technician to his home to look over the problem; nothing more was heard of the issue.

From Apple to Tesla

Woz's Model S ownership isn't the only connection between Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] and Apple.

George Blankenship--the man responsible for the signature look of Apple Stores--left Apple and is now Tesla's vice president of sales and ownership experience.

Blankenship brought the retail model to Tesla, creating the Tesla Stores that the company is using to challenge the model of conventional franchised dealerships--which has brought it legal battles in states like Texas.

Tesla also recently hired Doug Field as its new VP of vehicle programs; he had been Apple's VP of Mac hardware engineering.

[Hat tip: Brian Henderson]

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