In 2014 CEO Elon Musk had met with Apple's Adrian Perica, an executive who does merger and acquisition deals for the iPhone-maker. Nothing came of it. Yet now that Apple's Project Titan is set to triple in size and become larger than Tesla was at the time of their IPO, Musk is going on the offensive. He has to because as one trader put it yesterday, "No matter how good Tesla's electric cars are, its valuation cannot be supported on any rational basis, and it has been caught by the gravity of skeptical traders." According to the broker, most of the major car companies are gearing up to enter the electric car market in a major way and Tesla has nowhere to grow.

The thought of Apple gunning for them is of concern, of course, but at the moment they're miles ahead of Apple and so the bravado of Elon Musk is at its highest. In an interview with German newspaper Handelsblatt, Musk laughed at the Apple Watch by saying that "It's good that Apple is moving and investing in this direction. But cars are very complex compared to phones or smartwatches."

When asked if he was concerned that Apple was hiring away Tesla's engineers, Musk sarcastically said "if you don't make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple." The key is Apple is hiring away Tesla engineers, not picking them up after being fired as Musk tried to insinuate.

Yet in the bigger picture, Apple's Project Titan had car industry executives buzzing at this year's International Car Show in Germany last month with Daimler's CEO ranting that his company wouldn't be the Foxconn of Car Makers for Apple. So it's not just Musk who's rattled by Apple's possible entry in the electric car business, it's the entire industry. While tensions are high, some, like GM and Ford, are working with Apple beyond CarPlay, but the specifics are still unknown.

We reported last month that Morgan Stanley analysts led by Adam Jonas and Apple bull Katy Huberty stated in a note to their clients about the potential of Apple stepping into the car business, that "The potential total addressable market 'is enormous. Having a company like Apple -- with its immense resources and long history of building popular consumer tech products -- throw its weight behind electric vehicles, could potentially 'accelerate development and consumer adoption." The note added that "A potential confirmation of Apple making a move into the car industry could represent one of the most important moments in the history of transportation." Whatever Apple's Project Titan is, it's sure getting a lot of people charged up – pro and con.

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UPDATE OCT. 10: Under the Spotlight Elon Musk, like Aaron Sorkin, tried to backtrack on earlier comments bad-mouthing Apple. Sorry Elon, your two-faced dance isn't believable.