One of the more intriguing stories to have emerged from the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas over the past few years has been Sony’s electric vehicle. The Japanese tech giant stunned people in 2020 when it debuted the Vision-S, a handsome EV designed to showcase Sony’s sensors and camera tech on the outside and its entertainment portfolio on the inside.
The following year brought more developed prototypes of the Vision-S into view; then, in 2022, it took an SUV version to CES as well. At that time Sony told the media it was exploring commercial possibilities for a Sony EV, and last March it announced a strategic alliance with Honda, with the latter providing vehicle body engineering and after-sales support, and Sony providing the electronics, sensors, networking, telecom, and infotainment.
For CES 2023, Sony’s automotive ambitions have become a lot clearer. Sony Honda Mobility, the joint venture, is launching a brand called Afeela, which it says is because “feel” is “at the center of the mobility experience,” as people feel “mobility as an intelligent entity” and mobility feels “people and society using sensing and network IT technologies.”
The car has changed a little since we saw it last year, but the dominant design cues remain reminiscent of Porsche and Lucid—I’m far from the only person to think it looks like a 911 Targa from the rear wheels back, and there’s a strong touch of the Lucid Air to the front of the new EV.
Something to note on the exterior is a light bar at the front that the Afeela can use “to express itself to surrounding people using light, enabling interactive communication between mobility and people,” including displaying text messages like greetings or displaying the current weather. (One wonders if there’s an ability to display mirror-image text to show messages to cars in front…)
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