Sony Announces EV Partnership with Honda
By Edward A. Sanchez – March 8, 2022
A little over two years ago at CES 2020, Sony unveiled its Vision-S 01 concept car, a vehicle that outwardly shared more than a passing resemblance with the Tesla Model 3. At CES 2022, Sony followed up with an encore performance featuring the Vision-S 02 crossover. Both vehicles were engineered and built by Canadian Tier-1 and contract manufacturer Magna. Many – myself included – found it interesting that such a Japanese icon such as Sony would partner with a non-Japanese company to build its concept car. Well, this week brings news that Sony has decided to partner with Honda Motor Company for its future EV initiatives.
In reality, Sony’s initial choice of partnering with Magna is a logical one, as it’s one of the few non-traditional OEMs that can truly design, engineer, and build a car from the ground up. Although this is purely speculative on my part, my guess is by the time Sony approached Magna about the Vision-S, Magna already had an EV concept car on the drawing board – the Magna execs showed Sony and said, “What do you think of this?” Sony likely suggested some detail changes plus some tweaks to the interior and infotainment system, as well as asking for generous use of its components and sensors. Voila – coincidence meets opportunity.
The exterior of the Sony Vision-S 01 concept was a looker, with some pundits pointing out how production-ready the vehicle appeared.
No disrespect to Magna, as Magna is a world-class company with peerless engineering and development capabilities, but I think it makes more logical sense for Sony to join forces with a Japanese partner. Both Sony and Honda have tremendous brand equity and are iconic brands worldwide.
It would conceivably be a win-win for both companies to have a co-branded vehicle, or even create a “third” Honda brand with Sony-exclusive technology. Or, as the official Sony press release says, a “New Company.”
Honda’s automotive manufacturing expertise and sales and service channels and experience were cited as key attributes in the partnership. Although Magna’s development and engineering expertise are unrivaled, the company does not have a consumer-facing presence or franchised distributors or dealers. If Sony had continued with Magna, it would have had to undertake the buildout of the sales and service network itself, or partnered with another third-party channel.
The interior of the Sony Vision-S 01 concept was a veritable playing field for Sony to showcase its technology.
In terms of timeline, per the Sony official release, an EV model from the joint-venture is expected to be available by 2025. Details on regional and geographic availability were not given, so it’s not clear whether the first models will be offered in Japan, China, the U.S., Europe or elsewhere. My hunch would be that the launch market would probably be Japan, with sales and availability in the U.S. and Europe soon thereafter, followed by other global markets.
While Magna would have been a tremendous partner – and may still play a supporting role in this new venture – it’s hard to fault Sony for deciding to partner with Honda. Both companies undoubtedly recognized their respective strengths and growth areas, and decided they could work together to mutual benefit. I can’t wait to see what these two giants of Japanese industry come up with together.
(Images courtesy Sony)
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