Sony Honda Mobility is going full speed into CES

An early contender for the biggest CES marketing push might just be Afeela. If you’ve never heard of the burgeoning EV contender, the bigwigs at Sony Honda Mobility will be disappointed: They’ve been talking about this car since 2020.

The joint venture between Sony and Honda is attempting to stir up the slumping EV space. The Afeela logo, for one, is everywhere at this year’s event, on building facades, poster boards, even attendee lanyards.

It would be reductive to call this automobile a PlayStation on wheels, but with built-in Remote Play, it’s hard not to. As the partnership suggests, Sony’s fingerprints loom large. The electric sedan combines self-driving capabilities, an AI agent that you can speak with on the road, and several screens to either watch movies or play video games—because, why just drive and enjoy the scenery, right?

An eye on the future

Shugo Yamaguchi, president and CEO of Sony Honda Mobility of America (launched in March 2023), explained how the two historic brands used their expertise to unveil the Afeela 1 as a preproduction model.

“Honda has the factory side and a lot of talented members, skills, and the technologies we put everything into this vehicle,” Yamaguchi said. “Sony has a lot of entertainment companies, movies, pictures, and also PlayStations.”

Yamaguchi said that despite Sony and Honda occupying different industries, it was relatively easy to meld the cultures from both brands.

“We have a clear goal, clear purpose, [and we’re] focusing on that goal…It’s not just fighting each other,” Yamaguchi said.

The fight will surely be with its many competitors. The Afeela 1’s unique selling point doesn’t seem to be the range (an EPA-estimated range of up to 300 miles is modest in comparison to rivals like the Lucid Air), or its price point, which can breach $100,000 when you start adding on your favorite trim. Instead, Afeela’s appeal seems to be its immersive entertainment hub, where you can also dial in for that important Zoom meeting.

“If they don’t need to fully focus on the driving, then the driver and the passenger can have more time to enjoy something new, something entertaining,” Yamaguchi said.

When the Afeela 1 officially launches for consumers in California this year, it will be exclusively available via a direct-to-consumer model. In the meantime, the company is further wetting appetites with an SUV-like EV due in 2028, but by then, who knows what the electric vehicle market will look like.