Sony Honda Mobility to End Development, Sales of EVs

Tokyo, March 25 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Sony Honda Mobility Inc. said Wednesday that it has decided to discontinue its development and sales of electric vehicles. The move came as the fifty-fifty joint venture between Sony Group Corp. and Honda Motor Co. found it difficult to continue operations due to becoming unable to consign production to the automaker, which has decided to review its EV strategy amid the shrinking U.S. market. Sony Honda Mobility, established in 2022, will discuss its future, including its business direction, with the two parent companies. The EV developer was slated to start delivering its Afeela 1 EV in the United States this spring and planned to develop the second EV model. The firm decided to scrap both plans. It will fully reimburse U.S. customers who have placed preorders. The Afeela 1 was planned to be sold in Japan as well from the first half of 2027. According to Sony Honda Mobility, the Afeela 1 would have high added values, such as entertainment functions for music and movies provided by Sony as well as conversational artificial intelligence. The vehicle was to be manufactured at a Honda plant in North America. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, however, has withdrawn EV promotion measures introduced by the previous administration, such as tax relief, and significantly eased environmental regulations. The U.S. EV marked shrank rapidly as a result. On March 12, Honda announced that it would review its goal of making all new vehicles it sells EVs or fuel cell vehicles by 2040. The company also said that it expects to incur a consolidated net loss of up to 690 billion yen in fiscal 2025, which ends March 31, and that it may book a total of up to 2.5 trillion yen in losses related to the EV strategy review, including in fiscal 2026 and later. Sony plans to assess the impact of the joint venture’s latest decision, noting that its earnings could be affected to some extent. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]