McLaren says there is no truth to the rumors that it is in acquisition or investment talks with Apple, and that there are no plans to sell the company or form a partnership. The talks were first reported by the Financial Times, and then confirmed by The New York Times.

"We can confirm that McLaren is not in discussion with Apple in respect of any potential investment," said McLaren in an emailed statement to The Verge. Apple had previously declined to comment.

McLaren has a fast-growing road cars division that started less than a decade ago but has received great praise for its million-dollar P1 hybrid hypercar and its range of supercars. McLaren also has a large consulting division and a technologies group that acts as a parts supplier to other carmakers and race teams. It would seem to be a good corporate fit for Apple, were an acquisition or investment to take place.

McLaren’s statement is awfully definitive that there’s nothing going on. But, with both the FT and NYT independently confirming talks, it’s exceedingly unlikely that there’s nothing going on. McLaren is a private company and doesn’t have the same disclosure requirements as a publicly traded firm, so if the talks were happening at the highest levels, it’s possible (though rather unlikely) that the discussions could be kept from McLaren’s public relations team.