Jony Ive is reportedly not happy with the Apple Car and there's a hiring freeze in place

Apple execs haven't been impressed with the direction and progress of its automotive efforts and have put a hiring freeze on the project, Apple Insider's Sam Oliver reports.

The change came about after Apple design chief Jony Ive took a look at the project and "expressed his displeasure," the report says.

This news follows last week's report that Steve Zadesky, the employee leading the "Project Titan" electric car development, has left the company.

Although Apple has never acknowledged any plans to build an automobile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has called it an "open secret" around Silicon Valley and reports have pegged the team working on it as swelling to more than 1,000 people (including a lot of ex-Tesla engineers).

In the fall, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was aiming to release a vehicle by 2019, an aggressive deadline that would require it to triple its team to around 1,800.

It's unclear exactly how many employees Apple has working on its car at the time of this hiring freeze.

Business Insider reached out to Apple for comment and will update if we hear back.