Sony, the world’s largest electronics and entertainment corporation, announced on Friday that it will collaborate with Honda to build electric automobiles for sale as early as 2025, making it the latest company to enter the expanding market for battery-powered vehicles.
What’s New?
Electric car demand is limited now, but it’s growing rapidly as people become more concerned about climate change and increasing emissions rules. However, Japanese manufacturers have fallen behind their competitors in vehicle development.
They are now rushing to catch up with fast-rising automakers like Tesla and traditional rivals like GM, which has committed to go all-electric by 2035.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, Sony, a leader in digital sensors and image technologies, declared its intention to enter the auto business, exhibiting a prototype SUV that allowed passengers to play video games designed for its PlayStation 5 system.
What’s More?
Rather of designing its own automobiles, however, the business has partnered with a traditional carmaker in order to avoid the pitfalls that other digital companies have found when attempting to build their own vehicles from the ground up.
In their announcement, Sony and Honda stated that they planned to launch a new firm this year that would produce automobiles in Honda’s factories.
Sony will gain access to Honda’s industry experience as well as its global network of dealerships and aftermarket service providers under the terms of the agreement.
Digging In More Details
Honda will have access to the technology required to deploy features such as self-driving cars, as well as Sony’s vast entertainment library.
This will be critical as the startups fight against established electric vehicle manufacturers as well as major tech corporations like Apple that want to put their own stamp on electric vehicles.
Honda has revealed intentions to produce a number of additional all-electric vehicles, including at least two for the American market as part of a joint venture with GM.
References:
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- https://www.pcmag.com/news/honda-sony-agree-to-build-electric-vehicles-together
- https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/04/sony-and-honda-reveal-plans-to-jointly-make-and-sell-electric-vehicles/
- https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/sony-honda-join-hands-electric-vehicles-2022-03-04/