Sony and Honda Motor Company of Japan have officially announced a joint venture to begin the sale of electric cars in 2025.
Initially made public in March, the venture is titled Sony Honda Mobility, as per a statement released on Thursday. The initiative will see Honda utilizing its prowess in manufacturing and selling cars, while Sony will put to use its expertise in the tech and software sector in automobiles.
Both the companies, which will invest 5 billion yen ($37.52 million), will have 50:50 stake in the new venture.
Yasuhide Mizuno, a senior Honda executive has been appointed the Chairman and CEO of Sony Honda Mobility, while Izumi Kawanishi, an executive vice president at Sony, will be the the president and COO, according to CNA.
CEO of Honda Toshihiro Mibe, believes this agreement will yield exceptional results and assist in tackling 'new challenges' in the future. "At the new company, we will strive to create new value through the fusion brought about by the combination of our different industries, so please look forward to future developments," he said.
Echoing his sentiments, Kenichiro Yoshida, Sony Group Corporation CEO, said that he too is of the opinion that the venture will be a great learning opportunity and will be considered a major step toward embracing a more advanced digital technology.
"We aim to contribute to the evolution of mobility by combining Honda's cutting-edge environmental and safety technologies, with our expertise in imaging, sensing, telecommunication," he added.
As per InsideEVs, Honda, is currently lagging its competitors in EV development as it only offers one Honda E. The automaker is fast trying to catch up in the race and has also partnered with General Motors to come up with a series of affordable EVs.
In 2021, Honda had announced plans to invest $40 billion and roll out 30 new EV models by 2030.
For Sony, the leading provider of A/V electronics and other related tech products, it has already introduced not one but two EVs using its own design --- the Vision-S EV and Vision-S 02.
