Sony to develop new EVs with Honda, first model due 2025



Sony’s electric vehicle (EV) dreams might finally be coming true soon, as the company announces the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Japanese car giant Honda to establish a new joint venture company, tasked with developing a new range of electric vehicles.

While a MoU is non-binding, the companies said that the new joint venture company will be established formally before the end of 2022, with first customer deliveries slated for 2025.

As usual, what exactly will be the first joint venture production vehicle still remains in the dark, but Sony has previously already shown off two concept EVs – the Vision-S 01 and 02 – with the former already carrying out road tests in Europe last year.

The new joint venture company will be involved in the planning, design, development, and sales of the new electric cars, while leveraging on Honda’s expertise in vehicle development, manufacturing, and after-sales services. The cars will be built in Honda’s existing manufacturing plants.

Sony, meanwhile, will utilise its “expertise in the development and application of imaging, sensing, telecommunication, network, and entertainment technologies” to develop a “mobility service platform”.

“Through this alliance with Honda, which has accumulated extensive global experience and achievements in the automobile industry over many years and continues to make revolutionary advancements in this field, we intend to build on our vision to ‘make the mobility space an emotional one,’ and contribute to the evolution of mobility centred around safety, entertainment and adaptability,” said a Sony Group chairman, president, and CEO, Kenichiro Yoshida.

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“Although Sony and Honda are companies that share many historical and cultural similarities, our areas of technological expertise are very different. Therefore, I believe this alliance which brings together the strengths of our two companies offers great possibilities for the future of mobility,” added Honda president and CEO Toshihiro Mibe.

Sony first entered the automotive world in 2020, with the reveal of the Vision-S (now Vision-S 01) electric sedan concept during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that year. The car was subsequently put through on-road tests in Austria the following year, with a development mule built by Magna-Steyr.

A second EV concept, the Vision-S 02 SUV, was revealed in CES earlier this year, alongside plans to establish a new Sony Mobility company to “explore entry into the EV market” while searching for a partner to assist in the development and production of its planned models.