Sony and Honda cancel their electric car joint venture after Honda shifts focus, with the gaming-focused Afeela 1 sedan now dead in its tracks.
San Francisco: The partnership between Sony and Honda that was making a car called the Afeela 1 has been canceled. The two companies announced they are stopping work on the Afeela 1 and another car they were making together. This happened after Honda made big changes to its electric car plans.
Honda said it canceled its new electric car lineup because it lost a lot of money, about $15.7 billion. This loss was caused by changes in the global market for electric cars. The company said this made it impossible to use some technology and things it had planned to share with Sony for the Afeela project.
People who had already paid for the Afeela 1 will get all their money back. The companies said they will keep talking about what to do next. It is not clear if they will ever make a car with PlayStation features.
The Afeela 1 had problems from the beginning. Sony first talked about a similar car in 2020, and it was shown at a big electronics show four years in a row. By the time real details came out, the idea seemed old. Many cars now have lots of screens and computer features, so the Afeela was not special.
The car would have been expensive, about $90,000, and would go around 300 miles on a charge. Other electric cars can go farther and cost less. It was also planned to be sold only in California at first. Most people in the US want large electric SUVs, not sedans like the Afeela 1.
Many people are not sure if drivers want lots of screens and games in their cars right now. Self-driving cars are not ready for most people yet. Some experts say fewer people are buying electric cars because the government support has gone down. The Afeela’s failure shows how hard it is for companies to get into the electric car market now.