Honda and Sony Reveal AFEELA Concept Car
Sony has unveiled a handsome new prototype electric car it developed with Honda. It was revealed at CES 2023, an annual consumer electronics show that spotlights the biggest tech innovations in the world. It will be part of a new brand called AFEELA, though it’s not yet known what name the model will have when it is ready for production.
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Sony Honda Mobility — the joint venture between the two Japanese companies — was extremely light on details. The “specs” section on the official website tells us that the sedan has all-wheel drive, room for five passengers, a multi-link rear suspension, and not much else. And Yasuhide Mizuno, CEO of Sony Honda Mobility, had little more to reveal during the CES presentation.
At least that’s as far as the EV powertrain is concerned. Though SHM says nothing about the car’s range, battery capacity, or power output, it did tease some truly exceptional entertainment and safety tech. The AFEELA will have 45 cameras and sensors that, in tandem with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Digital Chassis and Honda’s safety technologies, will enable it to have Level 3 autonomous driving in specific conditions, and Level 2+ in a wider range of conditions, including urban settings.
SHM also claimed “best in class entertainment for customers.” The car will have a panoramic front display that spans the entire width of the dashboard, as well as a yoke-like steering wheel so that the driver’s view of the screen in front of them is unobstructed. The company is working with Epic Games to leverage Unreal Engine to “seamlessly [integrate] real and virtual worlds.”
The car is expected to go on sale in North America in mid-late 2026, with pre-orders opening in 2025. It will be built at a new facility that Honda is planning to build in Ohio. Pricing has not been revealed but Mizuno said it would be “a bit expensive” and that it expects customers will be best served by leasing it for 5-10 years.
Kurt Verlin was born in France and lives in the United States. Throughout his life he was always told French was the language of romance, but it was English he fell in love with. He likes cats, music, cars, 30 Rock, Formula 1, and pretending to be a race car driver in simulators; but most of all, he just likes to write about it all. See more articles by Kurt.