Honda and Sony are set to create a new company together focused on developing electric vehicles.
The surprising joint venture aims to produce its first EV in 2025 alongside providing a number of mobility services. As to why the two Japanese companies have decided to work together, Toshihiro Mibe, CEO of Honda Motor Co. sums it up best:
“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.”
From Sony’s point of view, Kenichiro Yoshida, President and CEO of Sony Group Corporation, says it’s all about “our vision to ‘make the mobility space an emotional one,’” whatever that means.
The new company being formed will have no manufacturing facilities of its own. It will carry out planning, design, development, and sales duties for the new vehicles, but the EVs will be manufactured by Honda. Sony will be handling the mobility service platform, and I’m sure it will also play a role in the user interface and services offered through each car’s infotainment system.
Although we don’t know the name of the new company yet, Sony did announce it was setting up a company called Sony Mobility at CES in January. Its focus was exploring the commercial launch of Sony’s concept Vision-S EVs. The goal remains the same, but I suspect that company name will change now Honda is involved.
