Calacanis’ prediction is based on Apple’s interest in building cars and Tim Cook’s obsession with clean energy

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) rarely makes big-ticket acquisitions. Its biggest ever purchase was the $3 billion deal for Beats Electronics. But angel investor and entrepreneur Jason Calacanis predicts that the Cupertino company would pay a staggering $75 billion to buy Tesla (TSLA) in the next 18 months. Rumors have been doing rounds for more than a year that Apple was interested in buying Tesla.

Why Apple and Tesla are a perfect match

Last week, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters and Financial Times reported within a span of three days that Apple was indeed working on its own electric car. The Cupertino has hundreds of engineers dedicated to working on a top-secret car project dubbed ‘Titan.’ Apple has been aggressively hiring Tesla engineers by offering them big salaries. The Elon Musk-led company is also poaching Apple employees.

Calacanis confessed that he had no proof or inside information that Apple was looking to buy Tesla. His prediction is based Apple’s interest in building cars and Tim Cook’s “obsession” with clean energy. The iPhone maker last week signed a $850 million deal with First Solar to build a solar plant. Calacanis said that Apple and Tesla were a perfect match.

Steve Jobs wanted to challenge Detroit

Steve Jobs was also interested in building cars to take on Detroit. In an interview with John Markoff of The New York Times before Jobs died, the Apple co-founder said that if he had more energy, he would have liked to challenge Detroit. Moreover, Apple’s reputation for making great products puts it among the few companies Elon Musk would consider selling Tesla to.

Calacanis added that Apple’s software, design team, and global distribution network would “level Tesla up.” No other company can acquire Tesla because they either don’t have the money, or they can’t assure Elon Musk that they won’t mess it up. Apple already offers CarPlay for a variety of automakers. The connected car market is expected to be worth $141 billion in five years.

Apple has the cash and Elon Musk has the revolutionary technology, so it makes sense for them to join hands. Of course, no one knows what the share price of Tesla will be in 18 months from now – and that number would make a big difference in terms of offers. Additionally, Apple is not known for large acquisitions – so the prediction is far from sure.