Sony-Honda Mobility Kicks Off Early Afeela 1 Production Efforts
Honda’s electrification efforts have involved partners, including General Motors, which builds the Prologue EV. The automaker’s team-up with Sony was more surprising, and the first vehicle from that effort has just entered production.
The Afeela 1 has entered production at Honda’s East Liberty, Ohio, facility, as the automaker conducts pre-production trials. Sony Honda Mobility of America’s CEO, Shugo Yamaguchi, said, “Leveraging Hodna’s expertise as our contract manufacturing partner, combined with Sony Honda Mobility’s additional quality standards and inspections based on our standards, we are committed to delivering Afeela 1’s design with exceptional precision and refined quality. The journey toward this vision has already begun in Ohio.”
While built by Honda, the Afeela 1 is far more of a technology showpiece than a car. It features a range of entertainment, audio, and AI-driven technologies, including an intelligent driving assistance system. The company claims an estimated range of up to 300 miles, and the car comes from the factory with a Tesla NACS charging port.
Sony-Honda promised to continue the trickle of updates on the car, but we don’t have pricing details yet. Mass production is scheduled to begin next year ahead of what will likely be a late-2026 release.
[Images: Sony-Honda Mobility]
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Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.
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Afeel-a the need....the need, for a charge.
Can’t believe they missed the opportunity to call it the Sony Carman.