AFEELA is an intelligent electric vehicle brand created by the joint venture Sony Honda Mobility (SHM) between Sony Group and Honda Motor. On March 4, 2022, both parties announced cooperation in vehicle manufacturing; officially signed the joint venture agreement on June 16 of the same year, established the 50-50% shareholder joint venture in September of the same year, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with registered capital of 10 billion yen. At the 2023 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the brand was officially named AFEELA. The brand name AFEELA conveys the meaning of "feeling", reflecting the concept of two-way interaction between intelligent transportation tools and humans.
The joint venture implements clear divisions of labor: Sony is responsible for software development, in-vehicle entertainment systems, and mobility service platforms, while Honda is responsible for production, manufacturing, and sales. Initially, the project set a goal to sell 100,000 electric vehicles annually by 2030, with cumulative R&D investment exceeding 50 billion yen. However, on March 25, 2026, both parties jointly announced the termination of all AFEELA brand electric vehicle development and launch plans. The project ended less than four years after its launch.
The origin of the AFEELA project can be traced back to 2020, when Sony first showcased the VISION-S concept car at CES. Positioning it as a 'mobile entertainment space' by combining Sony's audio/video and gaming technologies with vehicle carriers, it attracted market attention and solidified Sony's determination to enter the automotive field.
In March 2022, Honda and Sony signed a Memorandum of Understanding on strategic alliance in the mobility field. On June 16 of the same year, both parties formally signed the joint venture agreement. The company was expected to start electric vehicle sales and services in 2025. At the 2023 CES, the AFEELA prototype car was officially launched, continuing the VISION-S design language. The interior is centered on a through-type multi-screen layout, and it was announced to natively support PS Remote Play functionality, transforming the cockpit into a mobile game space. At the 2025 International Consumer Electronics Show, the brand's first mass-produced model AFEELA 1 was officially launched, introducing Origin and Signature versions, priced at $89,900 and $102,900 respectively. Pre-orders were opened with delivery planned for mid-2026. In August 2025, AFEELA 1 started pre-production at the Honda factory in Ohio, US, entering the final testing stage before mass production. At the 2026 CES, the second prototype car AFEELA Prototype 2026 (an all-electric crossover SUV) made its global debut, planned for mass production and launch in 2028.
On March 12, 2026, Honda released a financial performance warning for the 2025 fiscal year, expecting a net loss of 420 billion to 690 billion yen, marking the first annual loss since its listing in 1957. On March 25, both parties announced the termination of the AFEELA project. Prior to this, Honda had cancelled three planned electric vehicle projects in North America, leading to the withdrawal of platform support relied upon by AFEELA models, and the foundation for whole-vehicle mass production no longer existed.
AFEELA planned three all-electric models, but none were able to achieve delivery.
AFEELA 1 is a B+ segment all-electric four-door sedan, with body dimensions of 4895/1900/1460mm and a wheelbase of 3000mm. It offers two configuration versions: the Origin version priced at $89,900 and the Signature version priced at $102,900. Both versions include three years of free subscription service, covering AFEELA Intelligent Driving (L2+ ADAS), AFEELA Personal Agent, immersive entertainment content, digital vehicle custom themes, and 5G data connectivity. The Signature version is planned for delivery in mid-2026, while the Origin version is delayed until 2027. It adopts dual-motor four-wheel drive with a maximum output power of about 480 hp, equipped with a 91kWh battery pack, EPA standard range of about 300 miles (483 km), supporting up to 150kW DC fast charging, compatible with Tesla NACS charging plugs.
AFEELA Prototype 2026 is an all-electric crossover SUV, positioned as the second mass-produced model, planned to enter the US market first in 2028. The exterior continues the AFEELA 1 design language and is expected to share the platform and powertrain with the sedan. According to early planning, the third compact sedan was scheduled for launch in 2028 or later to compete with competitors such as Tesla.
Due to the project termination, AFEELA did not produce any substantive vehicle delivery sales data. However, the project encountered market coldness during the pre-order stage. After pre-orders opened in 2025, the performance in the Chinese market was poor — receiving zero orders three weeks after the pre-sale. Consumers generally reflected that AFEELA 1 pricing did not match product value, and core performance indicators lagged behind same-price Chinese brand competitors: 481 km range is inferior to same-price models, and 150kW fast charging power is far lower than competitors. In Japan, the car was also criticized by netizens as a "walking PS5 gaming console", considered to overemphasize entertainment functions while neglecting core EV performance.
AFEELA integrates the advantages of Sony and Honda at the technical level, forming three core sectors: intelligent driving, smart cockpit, and AI interaction.
AFEELA Intelligent Drive is one of the core technologies. The vehicle is equipped with an integrated 360-degree sensor network, including LiDAR, millimeter-wave radar, and cameras, totaling 40 sensors across the vehicle, with L4-level autonomous driving capability pre-installed at the hardware level. The LiDAR uses Sony's self-developed SPAD (Single-photon Avalanche Diode) photosensitive element, which can capture high-density 3D point cloud data at a frequency of 20Hz, improving object recognition accuracy in low-light environments and long-distance scenes. The system is supported by Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure and Qualcomm AI100 accelerators, shortening several months of simulation work to weeks to accelerate ADAS system R&D iteration. At CES 2026, SHM announced that by enhancing VLM (Visual Language Models), it plans to upgrade the end-to-end driving solution from L2+ level to a level equivalent to L4.
Smart Cockpit & Entertainment Ecosystem is a key selling point distinguishing AFEELA from traditional EVs. The cockpit design philosophy is "creative entertainment space on the move". Sony deeply integrates audio/video, gaming, and music ecosystems into the vehicle, natively supporting PS Remote Play functionality, allowing users to play PlayStation games inside the car. Equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon Digital Chassis platform, built on Epic Games' Unreal Engine 5 for 3D interactive interface. The interior is equipped with Sony 360 Spatial Sound Technology and proprietary noise cancellation technology, providing high-quality audio experience. The interior extensively uses plant-derived and recycled materials, covering 70% of the area.
Personal AI Agent is supported by Microsoft Azure OpenAI, achieving personalized interaction through natural conversation, capable of understanding passenger preferences and providing travel advice and content recommendations.
The global layout plan of the AFEELA project is centered on the North American market. The first mass-produced model AFEELA 1 is planned to be produced at Honda's factory in Ohio, US, and launch sales first in California, US, followed by delivery in Japan in mid-2026, and expanding to other markets such as Arizona in 2027. The second model AFEELA Prototype 2026 is planned to enter the US market in 2028. In January 2026, SHM announced plans to introduce AFEELA models to the European market.
However, due to project termination, the aforementioned market layouts could not be implemented. As of the project suspension in March 2026, the originally planned production plans in North America, as well as delivery plans in Japan and Europe, were all shelved.
After the project termination in March 2026, SHM announced 'continuing to discuss and evaluate the future of the joint venture with Sony and Honda'. Although the vehicle manufacturing plan has temporarily ended, Sony and Honda have not terminated cooperation. Both parties are exploring moving the core capabilities verified in the AFEELA project — including in-vehicle AI interaction systems, high-fidelity immersive audio architecture, multi-modal perception fusion technology, etc. — to non-vehicle smart cockpit solutions, mobile space entertainment services, and in-vehicle human-machine interaction platforms.
For Sony, continued collaboration with Honda remains a key path for it to extend entertainment, content, and interaction technologies to mobile scenarios. Sony stated that with an 'asset-light' operation model, this change will not have a substantive impact on its financial situation, and it will continue to explore new business models in the field of intelligent mobility. For Sony, the main gains from this cross-boundary vehicle manufacturing attempt are the vast amount of technical experience accumulated in AI model training, sensor fusion, and in-vehicle entertainment ecosystem integration, which will continue to support its layout in the next generation of mobile life experiences.
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