Two of Japan’s biggest companies are joining forces to take on Elon Musk’s company Tesla in the electric car market.
Yesterday, Sony and Honda announced that they plan to establish a new company that will manufacture electric cars, in an attempt to rival multi-billion dollar company, Tesla.
The company will use Honda’s pre-existing facilities to manufacture the vehicles, with Sony lending more input into the cars’ technology.
“Although Sony and Honda are companies that share many historical and cultural similarities, our areas of technological expertise are very different,” said Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe.
“Therefore, I believe this alliance, which brings together the strengths of our two companies, offers great possibilities”.
Their first prototype, the ‘Vision-S 02’ will be a seven-seat luxury SUV with two 200kW e-motors that can reach speeds of 240km/h. It’s expected to be on the market by 2025.
Neither company are strangers to electric vehicles, with Honda releasing the ‘e’ in 2020, while Sony developed a prototype for the original ‘Vision-S’ the same year.
The ‘Vision-S 02’ is expected to feature brand new technologies such as lip reading and passenger-sensing capabilities, while utilising Sony’s existing gadgets including 360º sound and remote connectivity with PlayStation hardware.
The price-point of the vehicles is yet to be revealed, but we’re hoping this collaboration will help make electric vehicles more accessible for young generations (taking down Elon Musk is a welcome bonus).
