(Tokyo) The Japanese high-end electronics giant Sony on Friday took a new step in its quest to join the automotive market by joining forces with its compatriot Honda to develop, produce and market electric vehicles from 2025.
Posted at 6:59
The two groups plan to found a joint venture this year to develop and sell “high value-added battery electric vehicles” and jointly provide mobility services, according to a joint statement.
Honda will be responsible for manufacturing the first model in its own factories, while Sony will for its part develop a platform dedicated to mobility services.
“The big trend that has transformed people’s lives over the past ten years is the smartphone. The next decade will be the decade of mobility,” Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida told a press conference.
The innovations and changes to come in this area “will not necessarily be driven by traditional car manufacturers, but rather by new players from different industries and new players in the automotive industry”, judged for his part Toshihiro Mibe, Director General of Honda.
“While Sony and Honda have many historical and cultural similarities, our areas of technology expertise are very different. This is why I believe that this alliance, by combining the strengths of our two companies, will offer great possibilities for the future of mobility”, added Mr. Mibe.
This partnership “will not be exclusive”, specified Mr. Yoshida, saying he wanted to “extend it to lead and contribute to the evolution of mobility”.
“Growth Engine”
As one of the world’s pioneers of fuel cell vehicles, Honda last year set an ambitious goal of 100% sales of electric vehicles (powered by electric batteries or hydrogen) worldwide by here 2040.
It is also already a partner of the American giant General Motors in new automotive technologies, including electric and autonomous vehicles.
Sony, for its part, has not hidden for several years its growing desire to become a fully-fledged player in the automotive market, to which it already supplies image sensors, audiovisual equipment and other high-tech products.
This partnership with Honda will allow it “to have its own platform to demonstrate its technologies and concepts, and will probably help stimulate adoption”, commented Mio Kato of LightStream Research, posting on the Smartkarma platform.
Breaking into the luxury car segment will create “a potentially significant new growth engine for Sony”, according to this analyst.
” Chemical reaction ”
Sony stood out at the CES show in Las Vegas in January 2020 by unveiling an electric car concept called “Vision S”, with autonomous driving equipment.
Also at CES in Las Vegas, in January this year it presented a new prototype of its Vision S and announced the creation for the spring of 2022 of a new subsidiary, “Sony Mobility”, to “explore the possibility of investing the electric vehicle market.
Around the world, automakers are trying to go electric, as many countries tighten their targets for reducing CO2 emissions.2.
The spectacular success of the American Tesla in this segment has led to a wave of newcomers to the automotive market, coveted by many start-ups and technological giants such as the Americans Alphabet (Google), Amazon and Apple.
Asian technology giants have also already entered the race for electric vehicles, such as the Taiwanese Foxconn/Hon Hai or the Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi.
Asked about potential competition with Tesla, the Honda boss ruled on Friday that it was no longer “a competition in the conventional sense of the automobile”, but that Honda was going to “create value” thanks to its joint venture with Sony.
“By combining different industries, we want to create a chemical reaction that far exceeds our customers’ expectations and (in this way) competes with our competitors,” he added.