Here is a query: How a lot is enjoying Fortnite natively in your automotive actually price it?
If it is price a minimum of $102,900, contemplate being one of many first in line to order the Sony-Honda Afeela 1. The electrical sedan, a three way partnership between two of Japan’s high client expertise firms, was revealed in manufacturing spec this night at CES. And it is undoubtedly not going to be low cost.
Picture by: InsideEVs
The Afeela 1’s debut mannequin, the Signature sequence, will begin at $102,900 and deliveries are slated to begin in mid-2026. If that is a bit too steep for you, contemplate ready till 2027 for the Origin trim. That one is simply going to be $89,900. Refundable reservations can be taken on-line for $200.
Picture by: Honda
Sony-Honda Afeela 1 CES 2025
As we have lined at previous CES-es and in our digital tour in New York, the Afeela 1 is the product of a three way partnership between Honda and Sony that will even yield an SUV and finally cheaper electrical fashions. Whereas it is being constructed by Honda in Ohio, Sony may be very a lot the one within the driver’s seat right here. The automotive is a type of try to put Japan’s EV choices on par with the high-tech, software-defined electrical fashions popping out of China recently—and in order that Sony would not get left behind within the race to place extra expertise, gaming and leisure instantly into your automotive.
Powered by a 91 kWh battery pack, the Afeela 1 boasts two electrical motors entrance and rear rated at 180 kW, so its whole system output needs to be round 480 horsepower. Vary is estimated round 300 miles, and it boasts fast-charging speeds of as much as 150 kW. The Afeela 1 will pack a Tesla-style North American Charging Commonplace (NACS) plug from the manufacturing facility.
Sadly, that vary and charging pace places the Afeela 1 far behind many fashionable EV rivals, particularly round that price ticket. A equally priced Lucid Air, for instance, has a peak charging charge of over 300 kW and has a variety of a minimum of 420 miles.
Picture by: Honda
Sony-Honda Afeela 1 CES 2025
However at tonight’s CES press convention, Sony officers pressured the Afeela 1’s technical competence. The sedan drove itself onstage whereas mobility chief Yasuhide Mizuno boasted that it got here to “near-final” kind in lower than two years. Mizuno mentioned that the Afeela 1 can have among the most superior automated driving help options in the marketplace because of a complete of 40 sensors, together with 18 cameras, 1 LIDAR array, 9 radar units and 12 ultrasonic sensors. Solely a small handful of LIDAR-equipped automobiles are, or can be, in the marketplace quickly, together with the Polestar 3 and Volvo EX90.
Comparisons will inevitably be drawn to Tesla, which is a frontrunner within the automated driving house however controversially does so solely with cameras and synthetic intelligence—one thing critics say is nice for cost-cutting however leaves the automobiles much less conscious and fewer succesful than they’d be with different sensor varieties. “Afeela’s AI notion is used to precisely acknowledge the encircling atmosphere, and its AI planner is used to create optimum driving plans,” Mizuno mentioned.
Picture by: Honda
Sony-Honda Afeela 1 CES 2025
As soon as ADAS is activated, the automotive “proactively talks to you,” present the motive force and its passengers with helpful details about what’s on the highway. When parked, it additionally supplies entry to in-car leisure within the type of video video games, music, motion pictures and extra—a lot of it from Sony’s huge content material library, after all.
Furthermore, a minimum of for now, Afeela 1 reservations will solely be taken for residents in California, however Mizuno mentioned that there are plans to “steadily increase to different states.”
Will folks purchase it? It is a variety of coin for a brand new model (albeit one from two household-name gamers) at a time when the automotive market, electrical or in any other case, is trending closely towards extra reasonably priced fashions. Nevertheless it’s additionally not unusual for brand spanking new EV makers to launch with their most costly and premium fashions whereas they work to get manufacturing scale up whereas driving prices down.
Furthermore, in its protection, the Afeela 1 does seem to be one of the crucial technologically superior automobiles on the highway—LIDAR is not low cost and neither is secure, superior automated driving. The automotive can also be similar to the sorts of entertainment-packed, software-driven automobiles more and more dominating the Chinese language market. If that is actually Sony’s try to catch up, it could simply ship.
Nonetheless, Sony-Honda could have to work on the vary and charging specs between now and 2026 (and 2027) if it actually needs the Afeela 1 to be a winner. The EV market is shifting quick, and if these two Japanese titans wish to justify that price ticket, they will want much more than fancy cruise management and in-car video video games.
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