Following the initial announcement of a joint venture (JV) in June 2022, Sony Honda Mobility (SHM) has now been formally established.
This comes after the two Japanese conglomerates signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in March for the joint development and commercialization of “high value-added battery electric vehicles (BEVs).”
The JV’s representative directors, chairman and CEO Yasuhide Mizuno (from Honda) and president and COO Izumi Kawanishi (from Sony), announced the formal establishment.
SHM stated that it will begin accepting pre-orders for its first product will begin before the end of 2025, with first customer deliveries beginning in 2026 in the US. It further adds that the deliveries in Japan will begin in the second half of 2026, whereas its first product will be manufactured at Honda’s factory in North America.
The JV’s high-value EV concept will provide Level 3 autonomous driving capabilities as well as Level 2+ driver assistance in an urban setting. It will also have a new human-machine interface with cloud service connectivity.
SHM’s lineup includes a crossover and a sedan. Sony claimed that both EVs will have two electric motors that send 536 horsepower to all four wheels. However, it did not reveal the details regarding the battery pack, electric range, features, and price of the vehicle.
The exact launch date is unknown at the moment, but Sony has mentioned a launch window of Spring 2022.
