Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) have been compared to each other time and time again, and the suggestion that Apple should buy Tesla has been made repeatedly. So is the argument much different this time around? Not really, although there is one or two extra arguments being made this time.

What Apple could offer Tesla

Business Insider‘s Jay Yarow is the one who has revised the suggestion of an Apple – Tesla merger yet again. There is little doubt that Apple would pay a pretty penny for Tesla Motors. The company has approximately $155 billion in cash just lying around and can easily raise debt if it wants to do so.

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He suggests also that Apple could help Tesla with its manufacturing problems. The automaker just hasn’t been able to manufacture cars fast enough to keep up with demand. Of course Apple has a massive supply chain and the ability to manufacture millions of complex electronic gadgets.

Yarow notes that Apple CEO Tim Cook has made a big difference in the logistics of the company’s supply chain, saying that an executive at one of Apple’s competitors once said that without Cook’s supply chain genius, the iPad would cost $5,000.

And then there’s the fact that Tesla CEO Elon Musk may have far too much on his plate. In addition to being Tesla’s CEO, he is also SpaceX’s CEO and SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY)’s chairman. The writer also states that Apple could help Tesla with its software.

What Tesla could offer Apple

On the opposite side, Yarow also has some ideas about why Apple might want Tesla. He suggests that Apple would get Musk along with the acquisition. This seems unlikely to me, although the writer suggests that he may only be a board member rather than an employee. With so much already on his plate though, Musk might want to simply let Tesla go, although he has said he plans to stay with the company through the production of the mass market Model III car.

Of course Apple would also get Tesla’s luxury car brand, which fits in with its business model. This is an argument we’ve heard plenty of times before. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had at one time expressed interest in making a car, and other executives at the company are interested in cars as well.