What might Honda's partnership with Sony mean for two-wheel fans?
Honda has announced a partnership with Sony to manufacturer electric vehicles.
HONDA and Sony are to enter a joint venture with the two Japanese giants scheduled to begin selling electric vehicles by 2025.
As The Driven has reported, Sony has already produced two electric vehicle prototype cars under the “Vision-S” name.
The Driven said, “Honda and Sony framed their new joint venture as an expansion of their existing discussions and exploration of a strategic alliance based on creating new mobility services.”
The collaboration is likely to see Sony’s role be focused on the way the consumer interacts with the product - so things like entertainment systems - and Honda’s focus on the manufacturing (the vehicles will be produced by Honda at existing factories and facilities) and functionality of the vehicle.
What remains absolutely unclear at this moment is the amount of wheels any vehicle produced by this joint venture will have, or what it will be called. Of course, Honda develops both two- and four-wheelers, and has already stated its aim to launch three electric motorcycles by 2024 in a press conference held last April.
However, where - or indeed when - exactly Sony fit into that remains to be seen, and maybe they don’t fit into it at all. Perhaps, then, the "Honda-Sonys" will be all four-wheeled, but even still that would not mean that lessons learned by Honda through the partnership could not be repurposed for their own motorcycles that bear the famous wing logo.
The Driven reports that negotiations are set to continue between Honda and Sony, with the aim being to establish their collaboration later this year.
