New Apple CEO John Ternus Prefers Porsche Track Cars Over Silicon Valley Robots

By Ben McKimm - News

Updated: 7 September, 2026

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Table of contents

Table of contents

• Lapping Laguna Seca in His 700 HP Porsche 935
• Cupertino’s Continued Crossover With Automotive

Readtime: 6 min

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• New Apple CEO John Ternus officially succeeded Tim Cook on September 1
• Mechanical engineer Ternus holds a degree from the University of Pennsylvania
• Track weapon of choice is a rare 700hp track-only Porsche 935
• Laguna Seca lap times regularly drop below 1 minute 40 seconds
• Automotive contrast follows Apple shutting down its Project Titan EV program

Silicon Valley’s elite are obsessed with building dystopian futures, but Apple’s new boss is taking a different route. While Elon Musk spends his public appearances parading Optimus humanoid robots and promising autonomous cyber-taxis, Apple’s newly appointed chief executive takes a refreshingly analogue approach to his downtime.

When John Ternus succeeded Tim Cook as Apple CEO on 1 September 2026, most of the corporate coverage focused on his 25 years inside Cupertino. Ternus previously led hardware engineering across the brand, directing the development of the iPhone, iPad, AirPods, Mac and Apple Watch while overseeing the transition to Apple silicon. However, outside Cupertino, the mechanical engineering graduate from the University of Pennsylvania spends his weekends chasing lap times at Laguna Seca in a rare, track-only 2019 Porsche 935.

Now reinvigorated through Ternus, the connection between Apple and Porsche carries legitimate heritage and a strong Australian tie. At the 1980 24 Hours of Le Mans in France, Dick Barbour Racing entered the iconic number 71 Porsche 935 K3 wrapped in Apple’s original rainbow spectrum livery, driven by American racers Bobby Rahal and Bob Garretson alongside Australian touring car legend Allan Moffat. In May 2026, Porsche Penske Motorsport brought that exact aesthetic back to Laguna Seca, wrapping its factory Porsche 963 GTP hypercars in retro Apple graphics to celebrate 50 years of Apple and 75 years of Porsche Motorsport.

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Lapping Laguna Seca in His 700 HP Porsche 935

Ternus’s weapon of choice is a 2019 Porsche 935, a track-only vehicle capped at just 77 units worldwide. Priced at USD$817,000 (€701,948) at launch and now fetching upwards of $1.5 million at auction, it cannot be registered for the road. Built on the 991-generation GT2 RS chassis, its carbon-fibre bodywork pays homage to the 935/78 “Moby Dick” Le Mans racer, fitted with titanium tailpipes, 911 RSR side mirrors, and tail-lights lifted straight from the 919 Hybrid LMP1 car.

Porsche originally unveiled the modern 935 at Rennsport Reunion VI in 2018 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (the very circuit Ternus frequents). Located a 75-minute drive south of Apple Park down Highway 101, the 3.6-kilometre Monterey track sits practically in his backyard.

According to reporting by The Wall Street Journal, Ternus regularly logs lap times under 1:40 around Laguna Seca. To put that pace into perspective, professional driver Randy Pobst set a production car benchmark of 1:28.3 around the same circuit in a 911 GT2 RS. While Tim Cook owned a first-generation Porsche Boxster early in his Apple career, Ternus takes his enthusiasm much further as an active amateur track driver.

Speaking to Reuters at the Miami Grand Prix, Apple services chief Eddy Cue noted that Ternus skipped watching Formula 1 from a luxury VIP suite just to run track sessions at Laguna Seca instead. Cue described him as a massive motorsport fan and sim-racer, which fits neatly with Apple TV holding exclusive US broadcast rights for all 24 Formula 1 rounds after taking over the package from ESPN. Off the tarmac, Ternus is known to take Apple hardware engineering teams on off-road rally-driving trips through Washington state.

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Cupertino’s Continued Crossover With Automotive

Having headed hardware engineering when Apple shuttered Project Titan in February 2024, Ternus saw firsthand the realities of attempting to build a vehicle from scratch. That experience gives him a grounded perspective on the boundary between digital software and physical vehicle dynamics, something that traditional manufacturers have struggled with, as electric vehicles redefine what a “car” actually is to buyers.

Apple’s current automotive operations focus on software licensing and sports streaming. Its main automotive software product is CarPlay Ultra, which integrates into full digital instrument clusters, beginning with Aston Martin and expanding to Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis. Simultaneously, Apple TV holds exclusive US broadcasting rights for Formula 1.

As Ternus begins his tenure, Apple’s automotive footprint will depend on the commercial expansion of its software layer. The rollout rate of CarPlay Ultra across mainstream European and Asian fleets, beyond initial low-volume luxury partners, will define how deeply Cupertino embeds itself into the next generation of vehicles. For an executive with a mechanical engineering background and a track-only Porsche in the garage, that software expansion marks Apple’s primary remaining connection to physical vehicle hardware.