Afeela Prototype: Honda and Sony’s first electric car

Three years ago, Sony made a striking appearance during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The electronics giant showed an electric car: the Vision-S. Production plans were not discussed and it seemed that the car mainly served as a stage for Sony to present its latest technology. Nothing could be further from the truth. During the CES of 2022, Sony announced that it would actually build cars and immediately showed two other electric study models: the Vision-S 01 and the Vision-S 02. A few months later, Sony entered into a joint venture with Honda with the aim of to develop and produce cars: Sony Honda Mobility. Now it is known what the brand of Honda and Sony will be called: Afeela.

With Afeela, Sony Honda Mobility wants to emerge as a ‘mobility and tech company’. Sony and Honda understand better than anyone that you mainly attract attention with a tangible car, so Sony Honda Mobility immediately brings a new prototype. That newcomer is simply called Prototype and is not a direct follow-up to one of the previously shown Vision-S models. The Prototype is much more concrete. In fact, a directly derived production model will go on sale in 2025. The first units should be delivered to North American markets in spring 2026. Afeela may also come to Europe.

Afeela Prototype.

The Afeela Prototype is 4.9 meters long and has a wheelbase of exactly 3 meters. This makes it comparable in size to the Tesla Model S and the Mercedes-Benz EQE, although the latter has 12 centimeters more between the front and rear axle. The 1.46 meter high Prototype can accommodate five occupants, stands on 21-inch alloy wheels and has four-wheel drive and probably two or more electric motors. Technical specifications are not yet available.

‘Yoke’ steering wheel adorns the sleek interior.

As expected, the Afeela Prototype is packed with modern technology. It has 45 cameras and sensors and the computers have a lot of computing power. On paper, the Afeela Prototype should go through life autonomously at level 3 under certain circumstances, but the brand is mainly aiming for semi-autonomous driving, at level 2+. Honda and Sony speak of extensive infotainment, complete with metaverses and all that elusive stuff. More concretely: in the dashboard we find a ‘yoke’ steering wheel cut open at the top and an extensive series of displays. The outer copies reflect what the digital exterior mirrors observe. The whole looks remarkably sleek and minimalist, according to Afeela to keep the driver’s attention on the important things. In the nose of the Protoype is what Afeela calls the Media Bar, a display that allows the car to communicate with the outside world.