• Sony and Honda present first Afeela-brand concept at CES 2023.
• Afeela is the name of a new EV brand being launched jointly by the two companies.
• Sony Honda Mobility will take orders on the model as of 2025 ahead of a 2026 launch.
Sony and Honda, which have been working on a joint project (official name: Sony Honda Mobility) to launch an all-EV brand of vehicles for some time, today announced its name and presented a first concept at the Consumer Electronics Show on now in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The first model to come from the Afeela brand is this all-electric sedan, name still to be announced. We can expect a presentation of the final product at some point in 2025, at which point the company will take pre-orders. Deliveries to buyers will start in spring 2026, if all goes to plan. Production of the model will take place in the United States.
Like most other carmakers working on next-generation EVs, the CEO of the new Sony Honda Mobility joint venture, Yasuhido Mizuno, emphasized the high level of interactivity and connectivity between the new model and its owners:
“Afeela represents our concept of an interactive relationship, where people feel the sensation of intelligent mobility and mobility can sense and understand people and society using sensing and AI (Artificial Intelligence) technologies.”
- Yasuhido Mizuno, Sony Honda Mobility CEO
The first Afeela model is a Model 3-style sedan with what looks like a strongly aerodynamic but still practical exterior design. One distinguishing feature is the bar lighting, both front and back, as well as the oversized wheels the vehicle sits on.
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Inside, there are more fanciful flights on the part of the designers, notably with the ‘half-moon’ steering wheel and a dashboard screen display that stretches literally from door to door (bookended by screens that take the place of outside side mirrors). We can expect a lot of the more fanciful elements to fall by the wayside on the road to a final production model, but we’ll see.
More likely to survive the transition are the floating console between the front seats, the screens on the backs of the front -row seats and the massive panoramic sunroof.
The concept version of this first Afeela model comes equipped with 45 cameras and sensors, anticipating a generous helping of advanced drive assist systems. The vehicle is equipped to handle Level 3 autonomous driving on the highway and Level 2 autonomy in the city.
