Well, it was bound to happen. With Honda ditching its 0 Series sedan and SUV earlier this month, it would little sense to keep the related Afeela models around, so the company and its partner Sony have jointly announced their cancellation.
The news affects both the Afeela 1 sedan – which, like the 0 Series, was only months away from entering production at Honda’s shiny new EV hub in Ohio – as well as the SUV that was previewed by a prototype at CES just this year. According to the press release, the cancellation of the 0 Series had “fundamentally altered” the tenets of the business operation, such as the use of Honda’s technologies and assets.
Sony and Honda said it would review the business direction of their joint venture, Sony Honda Mobility (SHM), evaluating the initial purpose to “develop and sell high value-added mobility products and to provide mobility-related services,” as well as the current EV market. They added that they plan to jointly announce their future direction and their mid- to long-term positioning “at the earliest possible opportunity.”
While anticipated, the news is a further blow to the Ohio EV plant, which cost Honda a massive US$1 billion (RM3.99 billion) to build. The company now stands to lose up to 2.5 trillion yen (RM6.5 billion) over the next couple of years as a result of this and other missteps.
It also puts paid to Sony’s ambitions to enter the automotive sector, at least for now. At CES in 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world, the electronics giant showed the Vision-S, a curiously well thought-out concept showcasing its technologies. Although the company denied the car was headed to production, it then released an SUV version in 2022, before ultimately partnering with Honda later that year.
The cancellations may provide some respite from the impact of US tariffs, the dismantling of EV incentives there and the decline in Honda’s competitiveness in Asia, particularly in China. It does mean, however, that the company will lose out on the current uptick in EV sales as fuel prices continue to skyrocket in the wake of the Iran war.
GALLERY: Afeela 1
GALLERY: 2026 Afeela Prototype
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