Honda Motor Company and Sony Group Corp have agreed to co-develop and launch a new electric car in 2026. According to Reuters, the still-unnamed EV will first reach the markets of Japan and the USA, and will be purchasable online.
There is still little info about its technical specifications, including platform, power output and battery capacity. Asked to comment on the news, a representative of Sony Honda Mobility said the vehicle would be a ‘gadget on wheels’ of sorts.
Sony will handle the software part of the project. A new system will be developed to support all kinds of online services, some of them subscription-only. The entire firmware, including the on-board electronics and the cloud services, will be written from scratch. Cloud integration will allow drivers to easily connect to entertainment services and payment processing systems.
As well, Sony plans to equip the car with everything necessary for Level 3 semi-autonomous driving. It will be able to take over the controls while the driver is absorbed in online content.
The production is expected to take place at the Honda factory in Ohio, USA. Sales in Japan are scheduled to start in the second half of 2026, after which the EV may appear in Europe as well.
Sony had already demonstrated its vision of a purely electric car – you can find it in the gallery here. It is unknown whether the planned EV has anything to do with that concept, though.