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After demonstrating the two electric concepts, Sony announced in early 2022 that it was looking for partners to enter the EV segment. In early March, the search quickly ended as it found a partner at Honda, with the two deciding to form a 50:50 joint venture. It was simply known as the “New Company” back then, and now, its name has finally been announced. Based in Tokyo, Sony Honda Mobility Inc will be established before the end of this year.
EV sales are slated to begin in 2025 when Sony and Honda will also start providing mobility services. Other details are scarce for now, but the press release vaguely reveals how responsibility will be divided between the two companies. Sony Honda Mobility Inc will leverage “Honda’s cutting-edge environmental and safety technologies, mobility development capabilities, vehicle body manufacturing technologies and after-sales service management experience.”
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At the same time, Sony will provide its “expertise in the development and application of imaging, sensing, telecommunications, networking and entertainment technologies, to realize next-generation mobility and services for mobility that are perfectly aligned with the user and the environment and continue to evolve forward.”
Both aim to provide “value-added electric vehicles (EVs),” but it’s too soon to say whether Sony’s Vision-S 01 sedan and Vision-S 02 crossover have anything to do with the new wave of EVs. It’s worth mentioning that Honda – fashionably late to the EV party – already has a deal with General Motors to use its Ultium platform.
Honda’s long-term goals include increasing sales of battery-powered and fuel-cell EVs to 40 percent of total global annual shipments by the end of the decade. The percentage is expected to grow to 80 by 2035 before stopping combustion engines entirely by 2040.
To get there, the new dedicated electric platform will premiere in the second half of the decade. Known as the e:Architecture, it will be unveiled on a series of US-bound cars before hitting other markets. Separately, the current deal with GM calls for large SUVs bearing the Honda and Acura badges to be sold in North America for the 2024 model year.
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