Together with Honda, Sony wants to produce an electric car
Dhe Sony-Honda electric car will be built in North America and hit the streets by 2026. However, customers in Europe will have to wait longer. Sony Honda Mobility, the new joint venture between the traditional Japanese companies Sony Group and Honda Motor, intends to serve the North American market from the first half of 2026. Then Japan will follow in the second half of the year, the company announced on Thursday at a press conference in Tokyo.
Only then will it be Europe’s turn, although the company did not give a time. According to the information, customers should be able to order the car as early as 2025. Sony and Honda each hold 50 percent of the joint venture.
With the jointly developed car, Sony and Honda are trying to catch up with pioneers of electric drives such as Tesla, Volkswagen and Chinese manufacturers. Compared to its electric-car competitors, the company’s strength will lie in its software, said Izumi Kawanishi, the joint venture’s day-to-day operations chief, who comes from Sony.
The special focus of the Sony Honda car is less the electric drive or the property as a means of transport. Rather, the president of the joint venture, Izumi Kawanishi, in Tokyo invoked the value of mobile space as “a space for entertainment and emotions”.
That’s where Sony comes in. With its technical knowledge of consumer electronics and its extensive film and music business, it has everything it takes to bring more entertainment into the car. It is also about networking with the Internet and artificial intelligence. Economically, this can open up the option for Sony and Honda to generate a steady stream of income with the software in the car through subscriptions.
Advance into a new business area
For Sony, it is the first foray into a new business area in which the electronics company has previously been active primarily as a supplier of image sensors. Sony’s interest, which grew with televisions, the Walkman music player and the Playstation video console, shows how far electronics companies are penetrating the traditional car market with electric drives and the vision of self-driving cars.
According to media reports, the American electronics company Apple has also been developing its own for years electric car. Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group, the most important contract manufacturer of Apple’s iPhones, presented self-developed electric cars last year, which it produces in cooperation with and on behalf of other companies.
Sony and Honda announced in March that they would jointly produce electric cars. At that time it was said that the car would be on the road in 2025. Sony had presented its own prototypes in previous years.
The electronics company supplies software and entertainment technology. Honda manufactures the car and contributes safety technology. Honda also has to bring its knowledge of marketing to the car market. Sony Honda Mobility wants to sell the electric car primarily via the Internet. For the car manufacturer, the cooperation with the electronics group is a project on the way to the electric car. Honda also cooperates with America’s General Motors and develops its own electric cars.
