Video: Sony & Honda unveil Afeela brand, 2025 prototype car

Sony Honda Mobility's new Afeela car brand will launch soon, the Japanese duo has confirmed, with pre-orders for its first car to open in early 2025.

As for Australia, the future for Honda- or Afeela-badged EVs is cloudy.

What a journey. At the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Sony unveiled a concept car it described as a rolling lab for the testing of vehicle systems that would include infotainment tech, cameras and sensors – all features Sony has plenty of experience with, across various market segments.

A year later, Sony confirmed it had no intention of entering the automotive industry as a car brand in its own right, insisting that its Vision-S concept was a tech-testing prototype only – despite its entirely production-ready look.

Then, in 2022, the story was flipped on its head with Sony announcing it had partnered with Honda and would launch a joint EV brand for a 2025 market launch. What's more, it revealed a second concept: the Vision-S 02 SUV.

Of course, Sony is no stranger to brand partnerships, having famously entered the mobile phone market as one half of the Sony Ericsson brand in the early 2000s. (This writer must have had at least five of their phones over the years...)

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Above: the Vision-S concept unveiled in 2020

Now, at this week's 2023 Consumer Electronics Show, Sony Honda Mobility has announced its retail brand will be called Afeela, with a simple wordmark as its logo.

The news was accompanied by the unveiling of a new near-production electric car prototype, as-yet unnamed.

Little has been revealed about the new brand, but Sony Honda Mobility CEO Yasuhide Mizuno said the car will debut as the culmination of Sony’s experience with AI, entertainment, virtual reality, and augmented reality.

The part not said – any actual automotive manufacturing experience – will obviously form Honda's contribution to the project.

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“Afeela represents our concept of an interactive relationship where people feel the sensation of interactive mobility and where mobility can detect and understand people and society by utilizing sensing and AI technologies,” Mizuno said.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the announcement was how different the prototype car looks to the seemingly production-ready concept unveiled in 2020 – which was arguably a better-looking design, if no more uniquely styled than the car shown this week.

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Afeela prototype EV tech specs

Sony Honda Mobility has yet to offer any official word on the Afeela prototype's specs, but we expect it to be built on the Ultium architecture that Honda shares with GM.

Honda unveiled its Prologue electric SUV in October, and while that too is still to be detailed in full, Honda claims a driving range of 725 kilometres from a single charge.

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Afeela prototype EV dimensions

In terms of size, the 4895mm-long Afeela car will sit between the Tesla Model 3 (4694mm) and Model S (4980mm) in overall length, although its 3000mm wheelbase will out-stretch both, which measure 2875mm and 2960mm respectively.

Indeed, the Afeela's wheelbase is a match for the Hyundai Ioniq 5's wheelbase and 100mm longer than that of the Kia EV6.

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Will the Afeela brand come to Australia?

For now, the Afeela brand has only been spoken about in reference to the North American market, suggesting a left-hand drive configuration could be the only layout planned for its cars.

Honda Australia did not respond to a request for comment in time for publishing, although it has previously made clear it does not comment on overseas announcements – particularly for models with no history in its Australian line-up.

Honda remains one of the last brands in Australia to offer any clear word on its EV plans. Internationally, the company has announced it will launch a range of electric cars by 2030, but which of those we'll see in Australia remains unclear.

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Above: A Fila, not Afeela.