Go for a walk, man: Sony's drive to create a car parked by partner Honda
- Reference: 1774506276
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/03/26/honda_sony_jv_hits_pause/
- Source link:
The two Japanese giants decided to build a car together in 2022 and formed a company called “Sony Honda Mobility” (SHM) to make it happen. A year later the pair [1]showed off their plans in a prototype called “Afeela” to which Honda provided automotive expertise, and Sony supplied imaging and sensing technology, telecommunications, networks, and the in-car entertainment experience.
Afeela proposed a software-defined car that allowed drivers to customize the many interior displays with their preferred themes or apps created by third-party developers. SHM tossed around terms like Afeela becoming the "center of the mobility experience."
[2]
Your correspondent has recently test-driven several electric vehicles and can report that designs similar to those SHM showed off in a [3]2023 video have made it into production in cars from other manufacturers. Sony and Honda therefore weren’t wildly outlandish outliers.
[4]
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But efforts to create Afeela weren’t rolling along happily, because yesterday SHM parked the car before it made it into production.
“SHM today announced that it has decided to discontinue the development and launch of its first model, Afeela 1, and its second model of Afeela vehicles that had been under development,” according to a [6]company statement .
[7]Sony no longer home of the Bravia as it plans TV biz spin-out to China’s TCL
[8]Toys can tell us a lot about how tech will change our lives
[9]Ford rolls into the Xen Project as hypervisor gears up for autos
[10]Japan set to join the re-usable rocket club after Honda sticks a landing
A change of heart by Honda was the main reason for the decision, because earlier this month [11]decided to cancel three EVs it planned to sell in the USA.
Honda blamed tariffs charged by the USA and the Trump administration’s decision to reduce incentives to buy electric cars for its decision to shift into reverse.
[12]
The Japanese company also pointed to emerging Chinese EV-makers that it said are delivering better cars than Honda can make and gets them off the drawing board and onto the road faster.
“In such a difficult competitive environment, Honda was unable to deliver products that offer value for money better than that of newer EV manufacturers, resulting in a decline in competitiveness,” the company admitted.
Honda’s decision means “SHM will not be able to utilize certain technologies and assets that were originally planned to be provided by Honda at the time of SHM’s initial business planning.”
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SHM therefore decided that it “does not have a viable path forward to bring the [Afeela] Models to market as originally planned.”
That decision means Honda felt that even with Sony’s extensive consumer tech experience, the auto-maker couldn’t make a competitive EV.
It also means The Register can give up our dreams of SHM finding a better name than “Afeela” – CarStation or PlayMobile seemed obvious choices. We’re sure you’ll do better in the comments. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/18/sony_honda_ev_afeela/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2acUR0bUEkWWgbvmPWHqGuAAAAFI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnAllqMAxwQ
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44acUR0bUEkWWgbvmPWHqGuAAAAFI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33acUR0bUEkWWgbvmPWHqGuAAAAFI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.shm-afeela.com/en/news/2026-03-25/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/21/sony_no_longer_home_of/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/18/toys_and_tech_futures/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/19/xen_4_21/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/18/honda_france_reusable_rockets/
[11] https://global.honda/en/newsroom/news/2026/c260312eng.html
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44acUR0bUEkWWgbvmPWHqGuAAAAFI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33acUR0bUEkWWgbvmPWHqGuAAAAFI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I wonder if that will become a [1] Ratner Moment
[1] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Ratner_moment
Not a Ratner moment - it's not well written, but I took it to mean that it was Sony who said it, not Honda. Maybe not the best way to talk about your erstwhile business partner, but nonetheless true. Look how quickly Chinese cars have taken over the UK - brands like Jaecoo have now got the market share that the likes of Citroen used to have, from a standing start.
I don't think anyone could accuse Honda of making bad cars. Their stuff is generally a bit better engineered than their traditional competitors. But people don't buy things because they are good, they buy because they are cheap and Honda has always been a little bit more pricey. The CCP have made taking over the global car market a stated aim and have the means to undercut everyone else to wipe out the competition. In the UK we are literally holding the door open for them.
...a revolutionary electric vehicle...
Revolutionary? Eh... No. Not really
Perhaps the real problem here is that nobody is all that interested in a car that promised to be little more than an electric arcade on wheels with an eye-watering price tag..
Sony would supply "imaging and sensing technology, telecommunications, networks, and the in-car entertainment experience" to be added to what is, to all intents and purposes, just a normal reliable and somewhat boring Honda EV. Especially in the current economic climate there's just no room for expensive gadgetry.
People want a reliable, affordable EV, and sticking a Garmin onto the dashboard or a media player in the back to keep the kids happy during a drive isn't all that complicated, and less likely to break down.
Rather than, say, electronic door handles that won't work half the time and lock you out of your car, or in it. (Tesla, anyone?)
I'm not surprised this got canned.
Not holding the door open !!!
More like have taken the door off the hinges and left the Goods lift open so they can get even more cars into the market. !!!
All these Chinese cars will be going through some consolidation as the final winners are arrived at.
Flood the market with choice then when your competitors have gone ... consolidate to the 4-5 cars that the majority of the world buys.(Left & Right hand versions as needed)
The Japanese brands have slipped slightly in innovation and have been contaminated by greed which means quality is not as good. (Some short cuts are being made)
When the Japanese brands were running at best with a quality focus that could not be matched, they were unstopable.
The chinese brands are getting better and soon will be like the japanese brands of old BUT I suspect that they will also be infected by greed and let quality slip quite quickly.
:)
Very interesting comment, given that Honda were once the "agitator" in that scenario in the car and motorcycle world, in the 1960s/70s. They've suffered the same fate (obsolescence) as they pushed onto UK and European vehicle manufacturers.
Some could call that karma, but tbh, it's just the way the world works.
Quite. But it does imply that Honda have simply given up.
Maybe they are so mass market oriented that they just don't have any niche appeal - which let's face it is the only reason the UK still has an automotive industry.
Go for a walk man
Well done to the author of the headline. Another in The Register tradition.
"The Japanese company also pointed to emerging Chinese EV-makers that it said are delivering better cars than Honda can make and gets them off the drawing board and onto the road faster."
Blimey.