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Honda and Sony Deal Will Involve Joint Venture, They Want It to Be Independent

It is no longer a secret that Sony has teamed up with Honda to build EVs together, as well as to develop a mobility service platform. Even from day one, it was evident that one company will handle the vehicle manufacturing part, while the other will be in charge of the tech side. Now, it seems that the two companies have thought it through, and they decided to make a joint venture.
Sony Vision-S concept vehicle 50 photos
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube video by Sony
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While it is not yet official from all points of view, the joint venture deal between Honda and Sony was confirmed by the President and CEO of Sony, Kenichiro Yoshida.

In his statement, which spoke about having a shared view with Honda on the matter of making an independent company for the long run, instead of putting the new project under either brand.

The statement was made to Japan's Nikkei paper, and it also included the possibility of having an initial public offering for the joint venture, but that will be decided later. Unfortunately, it is unclear what the new joint venture will be called, but it is clear it will make electric vehicles that will be offered as a mobility service.

The vehicles in question will be based on Honda platforms, as it would not make sense from an economic standpoint to have Sony develop a vehicle platform - despite the fact that the company has shown several concept vehicles, while some or most of the tech onboard might be made by the company that gave us the Walkman and the PlayStation.

To those born later, rather than sooner, the device meantioned ahead of the PlayStation was a portable cassette player that was made from 1979 to 2010, and Sony trademarked that name for it. Over 220 million units were sold in over 30 years, which is less than what the iPod did in less than a decade, but the latter would not have existed if it were not for the Walkman.

Honda only has one electric vehicle in its lineup today, the Honda e, which is only offered in Europe, but that is set to change by 2040, when the Japanese marque will have its entire range either in EV or in fuel cell form.

Honda has already pledged to invest $40 billion to launch 30 new EVs by 2030, which means we should see plenty of them soon, and at least one of those might be shared later with Sony.
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Editor's note: For illustration purposes, the photo gallery shows Sony's concept vehicle.

About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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