The Afeela brand wants to launch pre-orders for its first 100% electric sedan in early 2025. It should be close to the prototype presented this Wednesday at CES 2023.
Sony is getting into the automotive business. After a first prototype unveiled in 2020, the Japanese group has just presented a new one at CES 2023, with a clearer strategy on the launch of a first model.
Sony’s automotive vision
The opportunity also to unveil the name of the common brand between Sony and Honda, a compatriot, a historic player in the automobile industry and therefore an ally of the electronics giant in this project. It will therefore be “Afeela”, with a very advanced prototype, as presented this Wednesday in Las Vegas Yasuhide Mizuno, president of Sony Honda Mobility.
On the program a large 100% electric sedan of almost 4.90 meters, even if the brand does not really talk about battery, autonomy or even power yet.
On the screen visible in the official photos, we only see a remaining autonomy of 234 miles (376 kilometers), with a battery started at around 80%, so we can expect a maximum autonomy around 470 kilometers.
A Playstation 5 on wheels?
With many sensors and a Lidar positioned on the top of the windshield, as on the Nio ET7Afeela is betting a lot on its future autonomous driving functions, with the desire to offer level 3 as Mercedes does today on certain sections of roads and under certain conditions in Germany.
What to be able to offer embedded services, and why not video games? A point on which we can have a lot of expectations from the Playstation manufacturer. In delegation of driving, with hands more necessarily on the wheel and the possibility of doing something else, or simply during recharging times, car brands are now seeking to offer more and more entertainment functions.
No concrete announcement at this level, however, to see if we can take an optional Playstation 5 in the vehicle. Visuals of the game “Horizon Zero Dawn” broadcast on the screens of the prototype during the press conference, in any case suggest the ambitions of this Honda-Sony in this area, as well as the confirmed partnerships with the American processor giant Qualcomm and publisher Epic Games.
“We want to provide the best entertainment experience for our customers,” said Yasuhide Mizuno.
It is indeed on this point that we particularly expect a video game player like Sony, with a large screen slab that runs all along the dashboard, between two camera mirrors. And two screens behind the seats
Note also the steering wheel, cut in half, which recalls the new Yoke steering wheel introduced by Tesla in its latest Model S and Model X Plaid. The American manufacturer is also at the forefront of these new on-board entertainment.
To be continued, therefore, what will be the final version of this first Afeela. The brand intends to start pre-orders in early 2025 and plans the first deliveries in North America from 2026.
