Sony Honda Mobility, Sony And Honda Joint Venture Ready To Launch Electric Vehicle 2025

Sony and Honda form a joint electric car company. (photo: twitter @honda)

JAKARTA – Japanese companies Sony and Honda Motor on Thursday, June 16, officially agreed to a jointly owned joint venture that will start selling electric cars in 2025.

Honda, like its big rival Toyota Motor, has been slower to transition to electric vehicles (EVs) than global automakers and is under pressure from investors to build carbon-free cars equipped with new technologies such as self-driving features.

Honda, which has only offered one EV so far, the Honda e, said it plans to launch 30 EV models and make about 2 million EVs annually by 2030.

According to a source, for the JV (joint venture), it was first announced in March and was given the name Sony Honda Mobility. Here Honda will bring its expertise in building and selling cars while Sony will add its software and technology.

Each company, Sony and Honda will invest 5 billion yen (Rp 555 billion) in the JV company.

Yasuhide Mizuno, a senior Honda executive, will serve as chairman and CEO of the JV, and Izumi Kawanishi, an executive vice president at Sony, will serve as president and chief operating officer.

Honda, maker of popular models such as the Accord and Civic, is currently struggling with shrinking margins as raw material costs soar and the global chip crisis disrupts production.

Earlier this year, they said they would develop a series of lower-priced EVs. They will team up with General Motors, based on a shared platform that, expands on GM's plans to start building two electric SUVs for Honda starting in 2024.

Shares of Honda and other Japanese automakers fell between 3% and 5% on Friday, June 17 as world stocks will fall on fears that a sharp interest rate hike by the central bank will steer the economy into recession.