Sony Honda Mobility, which will be based in Tokyo, will combine Honda’s expertise in vehicle engineering and manufacturing, as well as its after-sales service competence, with Sony’s strengths in imaging, sensing, telecommunications and entertainment, the companies said.
The deal formalizes a memorandum of understanding that Honda and Sony announced in March. The new company is expected to sell its vehicles in Europe, the United States and Japan.
Toshihiro Mibe, CEO of Honda said the initial venture is expected to be small, but this is an important step in testing new business models for an industry beleaguered by change.
“In the new company, we will strive to create new value through the merger caused by the combination of our different industries,” Mibe said in the joint statement.
Honda, in the in the midst of a drastic corporate metamorphosissaid in April that it would invest 5 trillion yen ($37.16 billion) over the next 10 years in electrification, as it deploys 30 full electric vehicles globally and boosts its production capacity of 2 million electric vehicles per year by 2030.
Detailing the strategy, Honda said it will also shift its business from one-time hardware sales to recurring service sales that combine hardware and software.
It’s part of the new software-defined EV platform, dubbed e:Architecture, that the company will launch in 2026 to support Honda’s next generation of full-size battery-electric cars.
Comments are closed.