Sony and Honda have teamed up to form a new venture that will manufacture and sell electric vehicles (EVs). The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) stating their aims, despite the fact that the deal has not yet been finalized. The new conglomerate is expected to be founded this year, with the first electric vehicle expected to be sold in 2025.
The initial model will be manufactured by Honda, with the new business handling design, production, and sales, and Sony developing a mobility service platform for it. Honda’s expertise in car design and marketing will be combined with Sony’s strengths in image sensors, telecommunications, and, most crucially, entertainment.
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Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe explained:
The new firm will strive to be at the forefront of global transportation innovation, evolution, and advancement by taking a broad and ambitious approach to producing value that exceeds customers’ expectations and imagination. We’ll accomplish it by combining our technological assets and utilizing Honda’s cutting-edge technology and know-how in the areas of the environment and safety. Despite the fact that Sony and Honda have a lot of historical and cultural commonalities, our technology knowledge is vastly different. As a result, I feel that this partnership, which combines the assets of our two firms, has a lot of potential for the future of mobility.
Sony has long expressed an interest in entering the automotive business, but this is the company’s first entry into the commercial sector. The Sony also exhibited the Vision-S, an electric concept vehicle, debuted at CES 2020, and the Vision-S 02 debuted at CES 2022.
It had previously announced its intention to form a company dubbed ‘Sony Mobility’ by spring 2022, but its new relationship with Honda appears to have put that ambition on hold.
