by The End of the Sony Car Dream
The dream of an electric car under the Sony brand has officially come to an end. The Sony Honda Mobility joint venture confirmed the termination of development and launch of its entire line of electric vehicles. This applies both to the Afeela 1 sedan, whose release was planned for this year, and to the SUV planned for 2028.
This decision effectively means the collapse of the alliance created in 2022 to combine Sony’s software and entertainment ecosystem with Honda’s manufacturing power. The project, which initially looked like a serious attempt to rethink the car ownership experience, has closed without releasing a single production model.
The project was terminated due to a radical change in Honda’s strategy, announced at the beginning of the month.
Reasons for Canceling the Project
The demise of the Afeela project is directly linked to Honda’s strategic review. The automaker canceled several key electric vehicle development programs, including the Honda 0 Saloon, 0 SUV, and Acura RSX models, which were being prepared for the North American market.
As Honda steps back from previous electrification goals to stop projected losses of 2.5 trillion yen, the company withdrew the technical assets and dedicated platforms on which Afeela was to be based. Without the hardware support from the automaker, the joint venture recognized that it had no viable path to bring the models to market.
This news came shortly after the grand opening of the Afeela Studio and Delivery Hub in Torrance, California, on March 16. Instead of receiving their Afeela 1 sedans, everyone who managed to place a pre-order will receive a full refund.
Timeline of Sony’s Automotive Ambitions
Sony’s attempt to enter the automotive space began with the Vision-S 01 and Vision-S 02 prototypes, presented at CES in 2020 and 2022, with the intention of turning them into production models. In 2022, Sony partnered with Honda to bring this ambition closer to reality.
The Afeela brand was introduced at CES 2023 along with an early prototype. By CES 2025, the production version of the electric sedan, named Afeela 1, debuted. Pre-orders could be placed with a $200 deposit, and the car’s target price was $89,900.
The final chapter of the story was written at CES 2026, presenting the Afeela Prototype 2026, which was to evolve into a production SUV by 2028. In March 2026, the company also showed two art cars based on the Afeela 1 in collaboration with Matt Copson and Hajime Sorayama, although by that time the project was already in its final days.
Future of the Joint Venture
In its statement, the company reported that Sony Honda Mobility will continue discussions about future business plans with its parent companies, Sony and Honda. It remains unclear whether the venture will be able to find a new application for its technologies and resources, or whether this expensive experiment will remain in history as an example of an ambitious but unrealized project in the fast-moving electric vehicle market. This situation vividly illustrates how volatile the industry can be, where strategic decisions by giants can instantly change the fate of entire brands and products, leaving investors and customers with unfulfilled promises.
