Sony Group Corporation and Honda Motor Co., Ltd companies, announced their plans to form a joint venture to manufacture the battery-powered vehicle in Honda’s car manufacturing plants. They aim to begin selling the first electric vehicles in 2025. This strategic alliance announcement came less than two months after Sony revealed it was exploring opportunities to enter the electric vehicle industry. The companies say the first cars will be available in that time frame.
The two companies will continue to negotiate a joint development agreement and a joint venture agreement to form the new company within 2022. The two companies have the necessary knowledge to work together on this project. The partnership will also focus on the entertainment and imaging technology aspects of an EV. This is a huge win for Honda and gives Sony an excellent opportunity to compete in the electric car market.
They stated that they were willing to work with other partners as well. Both companies have signed a memorandum of understanding stating their intention to collaborate on the design and marketing of electric vehicles.
Sony displayed prototypes of Electric Vehicle Vision-S 01 and Vision-S 02 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. At the same time, they made clear that they do not wish to manufacture electric vehicles independently.
Meanwhile, traditional automakers like Honda were under pressure to produce carbon-free vehicles to reduce carbon emissions, but Honda didn’t have a clear EV strategy to follow. This turned out to be a terrific opportunity for both companies to build their first electric vehicle. However, they are not naming a specific model.
Their main objective is to take on the market’s most legendary industrial giants, such as Tesla, burgeoning Chinese car manufacturers, and other automakers. They believe they must bring together their expertise in various areas to accomplish this. A highly inventive and recognized automobile manufacturer in Japan, Honda will provide manufacturing facilities. At the same time, Sony will bring its tech-focused expertise to produce their first electric vehicle, which is planned to be sold in 2025.
Honda’s reliability score is 4.5 out of 5, which is above average, according to Repair Pal. Moreover, the severity rating for all Honda models is 10%, which means that most of the Honda vehicles in need of repair have non-urgent issues. When compared to the general average, the average cost of repairing a Honda vehicle is relatively low.
Honda’s outstanding vehicle mobility development capabilities, vehicle body manufacturing technology, and years of after-sales service management expertise are considered one of the best. According to both companies, The New Company is only responsible for planning, designing, developing, and selling electric vehicles. However, the company will not own or operate any manufacturing plants.
Embed from Getty ImagesTherefore, Honda will be responsible for manufacturing the first EV model at its own car manufacturing plant. Moreover, however, Honda will also be in charge of servicing these EVs. Sony’s responsibility is to develop a robust mobility service platform using their expertise and deploy it in the production of electric vehicles. In comparison to Sony, Honda lacks software development expertise; however, this alliance may help bridge the existing knowledge gap.
According to Sony CEO, Chairman, and President Kenishiro Yoshida, the purpose of this collaboration with Honda is to make the mobility environment more emotional and to contribute to the evolution of mobility by focusing on security, entertainment, and adaptability.
Although South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co has surpassed Sony’s dominance in consumer electronics, Sony retains a plethora of cutting-edge technological expertise and knowledge required to create sensors essential to autonomous driving. Many business critics slammed it as well, claiming that Sony lacked the expertise needed to build the ultrasonic sensors used for electric vehicles and that Honda made the wrong decision by joining the strategic alliance. We’ll be able to see the actual results in 2025; until then, let’s remain positive!
