Sony Honda Mobility: carmaker and tech group collaborate

Sony and Honda are joining forces. Under the new name Sony Honda Mobility, the two companies will offer electric cars and mobility services, according to a press release from the company. The launch is expected to take place before the end of 2022.

Sony Honda Mobility to launch in 2022

Back in March of this year, Sony and Honda announced a memorandum of understanding to jointly produce e-cars in the future. This is now being put into action. The new company Sony Honda Mobility is to start operations this year, with the first vehicles to be sold from 2025.

The new company will be managed from the joint headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. The start-up capital is to be 10 billion yen, the equivalent of just under 71 million euros. Sony and Honda each hold 50 percent of the shares in the new company.

While Honda will concentrate primarily on building the vehicle body in the new joint venture and will contribute its expertise in the field of mobility, Sony will be responsible for imaging, networking, sensor technology, telecommunications and entertainment technology. The Japanese have proven that they can do this, not least with their ANC headphones like the WH-1000XM5 or the LinkBuds S (our review).

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High-end e-car with entertainment extras

In the Wall Street Journal, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida spoke a bit more specifically about the joint plans. Sony Honda Mobility’s first car is to be nothing less than a “high-end model” offering entertainment such as movies and video games.

However, users are to pay extra for this, presumably by direct purchase or in a subscription model, with which Sony has already gained relevant experience in its PlayStation console family. The ambitions for Sony Honda Mobility are huge. Together, they want to accelerate the development of mobility and “lead the evolution of mobility”, the announcement says.

What the joint venture’s first e-cars will ultimately look like is currently unknown. Sony had already presented its visions some time ago in the concept cars of the Vision-S 01 sedan and the Vision-S 02 SUVs.

With the Vision GT cars in Sony’s own Gran Turismo racing game series, which just got a new spinoff this year with GT7 on the PlayStation 5, they’ve been gaining experience with virtual concept cars for quite some time. It’s hard to say whether and how these can be incorporated into the development at Sony Honda Mobility. However, the market launch planned for 2025 should be exciting.