US tech giant Apple is in talks with British supercar maker McLaren about a possible acquisition, the Financial Times reported Wednesday.

The Californian iPhone maker is looking at a potential takeover of or investment in the British-based firm, which could be valued at up to 1.5 billion pounds (1.7 billion euros, $1.9 billion), the newspaper said, citing three unnamed sources.

If it went ahead, the move could be seen as part of a bid by Apple to challenge Tesla, the US luxury electric carmaker founded by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.

Apple fuelled speculation about its ambitions in the auto sector this year with a billion-dollar investment in Chinese ride-sharing company Didi Chuxing.

The New York Times reported earlier this month that the company was rethinking its strategy, mothballing parts of its Titan self-driving cars project.

Google's parent company Alphabet and San Francisco-based Uber have both been working on getting self-driving cars on public roads.

McLaren also runs a successful Formula One team.