Sony Group Corporation and Honda Motor Co., Ltd. have signed a joint venture agreement to establish a new company to engage in the sale of electric vehicles (EVs) and provide services for mobility. The new company, a 50-50 joint venture, will be called Sony Honda Mobility Inc.
It will bring together Honda’s environmental and safety technologies, mobility development capabilities, vehicle body manufacturing technology and after-sales service management experience, with Sony’s expertise in the development and application of imaging, sensing, telecommunication, network and entertainment technologies.
Sony and Honda plan to establish the new company within 2022 and to begin the sale of EVs and provision of services for mobility in 2025.
Kenichiro Yoshida, CEO, Sony Group Corporation, says: “Based on our vision to ‘make the mobility space an emotional one,’ Sony’s initiatives in the mobility business are centered around the three areas of safety, entertainment and adaptability. As we continue our learnings in these areas, we are excited to have met a partner, Honda, with extensive global achievements and knowledge, and to sign the joint venture agreement between the two companies. Going forward, we aim to contribute to the evolution of mobility by combining Honda’s cutting-edge environmental and safety technologies, mobility development capabilities, vehicle body manufacturing technology and after-sales service management experience, with our expertise in imaging, sensing, telecommunication, network and entertainment technologies.”
Toshihiro Mibe, CEO, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. adds: “Honda continues to take on new challenges in the environmental, safety, and other advanced fields in order to be a driving force for social change through mobility, and ‘become the power that supports people around the world who are trying to do things based on their own initiative.’ We are very pleased to have signed a joint venture agreement with Sony, which has strengths in advanced digital technology, and shares our desire to take on new challenges. Since its announcement in March, many people have expressed their expectations for this joint venture. 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.”
The announcement is the result of discussion of a strategic alliance in the mobility field between the parties as announced in the joint press release issued on March 4, 2022.
