Honda cancels the two electric vehicles it was developing with Sony
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Unlike some EV product cancellations this is a smart business move. That car at that price point was never going to sell many units.
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Even if it did come out its whole selling point was that it had Sony's tech know-how to make it a "computer-on-wheels", which is what the vast majority of EVs already are today. It wouldn't have been very unique and at $90k+ it would have struggled for sure.
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Honda having EV's ready to launch wasn't a bad thing. But Honda had the wrong EV's. Plus, the "Afeela" always seemed like a bad PR exercise more than a serious seller, and one that took way too long, at that.
But, for Honda, this is still a terrible time to pull back from EV's, generally speaking. Toyota is finally getting its footing right with EV's (and Subaru, by extension.) I see a repeat of when Toyota won on hybrids while Honda punted.
I also see legacy automakers in the U.S. trying to bend to the will of its current regime (I mean, that's what it is..) That is a bad, bad mistake, when the rest of the world is moving ahead much faster on electrification and China is overtaking the market.
But, for Honda, this is still a terrible time to pull back from EV's, generally speaking. Toyota is finally getting its footing right with EV's (and Subaru, by extension.) I see a repeat of when Toyota won on hybrids while Honda punted.
I also see legacy automakers in the U.S. trying to bend to the will of its current regime (I mean, that's what it is..) That is a bad, bad mistake, when the rest of the world is moving ahead much faster on electrification and China is overtaking the market.
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Especially with a Honda badge on the hood. There are brands that can command $90K on a car and move units...then there's Honda. Sorry Honda, I like you, but you're not a luxury tier brand.
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I wonder how much Honda and Sony spent advertising the Afeela. I’ve seen their ads pop up dozens of times on YouTube.
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It’s a pity. For a while, late during the Biden administration, it looked like most of the barriers and challenges to EV ownership for many (but maybe not all) people were finally going to be dealt with and EV adoption might hit some kind of inflection point. Enter the Trump crowd, which took care of that pronto. But even if Trump was never elected, I could never see this Sony-Honda product working out. I think the project would have died anyway.
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I think there is a very real chance that what happened to the US auto industry in the 1980's after the oil crisis of the late '70's could happen again. At that time consumers wanted small and efficient, and Detroit was still building boats. The Japanese came in a established themselves in the US market,
I can see the big three getting left behind again because they were slow to change. The landscape isn't 1:1, but there are enough similarities and I think the overall lack of innovation is the same.
Protectionist measures will ensure Chinese EVs aren't mainstream in the US, but when the market is actually global, it doesn't bode well for the American legacy automakers.
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Honda has its own luxury badge (Acura), and I would posit that if they had planned to release this car under that badge, it wouldn't have made the slightest difference in the sales outcome. The badge isn't the problem.
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Yes and no. Yes on charging but...
Biden put a 100% tariff on Chinese and Chinese OEM'd EVs before Trump won. Which led to many EV models in the USA never coming, at best. Because many autos were looking to Chinese platforms to bring down costs and make them affordable. I was interested in Mini's 2025 EV Cooper got caught in that mess--because it used a Chinese platform. BMW was talking about pivoting and having production made in the UK...then that was cut too. Now, it is probably never coming to the USA. Mini's SUV is--but the last thing the USA needs is yet another SUV.
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I’m not sure how much I agree with this. GM might have killed BrightDrop but its other brands all have multiple EVs on sale, from cheap ones to massive expensive ones.
Also, at the risk of being obvious here, Honda isn’t a US car maker.
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I dug into availability of EVs in Canada (just before the clean tax credit roll back was announced) and even then affordability was very questionable. I could not find the two new cheapest EV models at all and if I could find the 3rd which was no where near me it was at least 15K more than similar new sedans.
Now before the Iran war (thanks guys) I dropped about 100 a month in gas CDN. I have a gas sipper. The 15K price difference worked out to be about 12.5 years of gas if I bought a new car with similar milage.
Obviously if I keep using my current ride a few more years the savings stretches out even more.
I'll be long retired by then and wont need to drive nearly as much.
Now a bigger sedan or reasonable sized SUV would reduce the gas savings by using more gas but even 10 years of gas would not be unreasonable in savings. They really need to do better. I really should see some savings in under a decade....
Yep I love the idea and if someone dropped me a barrel of money I would get a cute small EV but I could not financially justify it now with those numbers. Locally the malls and such are starting to put out chargers but they are always full. If you need to charge outside your home you'll have to make extra plans to charge because you will be there awhile. There are 84 chargers for well over 100K people. So hopefully you get lucky lol. We are a long way from mass adoption here.
Wait doesn't Honda make a few hundred thousand cars per year in the US?
Now before the Iran war (thanks guys) I dropped about 100 a month in gas CDN. I have a gas sipper. The 15K price difference worked out to be about 12.5 years of gas if I bought a new car with similar milage.
Obviously if I keep using my current ride a few more years the savings stretches out even more.
I'll be long retired by then and wont need to drive nearly as much.
Now a bigger sedan or reasonable sized SUV would reduce the gas savings by using more gas but even 10 years of gas would not be unreasonable in savings. They really need to do better. I really should see some savings in under a decade....
Yep I love the idea and if someone dropped me a barrel of money I would get a cute small EV but I could not financially justify it now with those numbers. Locally the malls and such are starting to put out chargers but they are always full. If you need to charge outside your home you'll have to make extra plans to charge because you will be there awhile. There are 84 chargers for well over 100K people. So hopefully you get lucky lol. We are a long way from mass adoption here.
Wait doesn't Honda make a few hundred thousand cars per year in the US?
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jm_leviathan
Ars Scholae Palatinae
The Sony-Honda venture whereby Sony supplies technologies to be integrated in a basically Honda vehicle seemed conceptually similar to Huawei's HIMA venture with its various manufacturing partners, including in targeting higher pricing brackets first, though HIMA is now extending to encompass more mainstream vehicles also.
The major difference is that HIMA deliveries have now reached a cumulative 1.3m vehicles and Huawei is continuing to push forward with a comprehensive suite of new-generation solutions...
Hopefully Sony can find another automotive manufacturing partner to continue to explore this space, but at this point it seems difficult to image that they'll be able to replicate what Huawei has achieved with HIMA.
The major difference is that HIMA deliveries have now reached a cumulative 1.3m vehicles and Huawei is continuing to push forward with a comprehensive suite of new-generation solutions...
Hopefully Sony can find another automotive manufacturing partner to continue to explore this space, but at this point it seems difficult to image that they'll be able to replicate what Huawei has achieved with HIMA.
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Seems a mistake on Honda's part? The current oil crisis indicates that electrification helps protect an automobile manufacturer on a front other than efficiency and clean air standards.
Not that any of these EV's Honda was working on is what I wanted. I have a pickup truck, a hybrid minivan, a cross over. I wanted a small car, compact or subcompact, reliable so looking only at Toyota and Honda as I keep cars for 15 or more years on average. Preferred it be an EV so will consider the Leaf but it is likely I will walk back on the EV idea and purchase a Prius this year. Maybe an EV next time. I like what I'm reading about BYD and its new battery that does not spontaneously combust when punctured. Shame BYD is not available in the US.
BYD’s new Blade EV Battery 2.0 unlocks 1,000+ km pure electric range and 10 min fast charging
Missile-Proof? BYD Atto 3 Doesn’t Catch Fire After Jerusalem Explosion
Not that any of these EV's Honda was working on is what I wanted. I have a pickup truck, a hybrid minivan, a cross over. I wanted a small car, compact or subcompact, reliable so looking only at Toyota and Honda as I keep cars for 15 or more years on average. Preferred it be an EV so will consider the Leaf but it is likely I will walk back on the EV idea and purchase a Prius this year. Maybe an EV next time. I like what I'm reading about BYD and its new battery that does not spontaneously combust when punctured. Shame BYD is not available in the US.
BYD’s new Blade EV Battery 2.0 unlocks 1,000+ km pure electric range and 10 min fast charging
Missile-Proof? BYD Atto 3 Doesn’t Catch Fire After Jerusalem Explosion
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Afeela this was a good decision. I think Sony is very good at making high quality products. But a 90k EV car is not where things are at right now.
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This tie up really seemed to be something that would only work well in the Japanese market, it seems too odd to work in the rest of the world. Killing the Afeela seems like the right move but overall I think Honda's EV strategy is lost at sea. They appear to be overreacting to the lull in EV demand but it's not clear that they're planning for when demand recovers. Also, it's likely that the US's (hopefully temporary) ass backwardness is only going to represent a modest damper on the global EV market. I love Honda but honestly they confuse the heck out of me sometimes from a strategy perspective.
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Another nail in Honda's coffin as an automobile manufacturer. I'm sad, because my first few cars were Hondas and Acuras, and I loved them.
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Japan has mostly dropped the ball on EVs. Part of this is sunk cost fallacy (Toyota and Honda refuse to give up on their hard-won combustion engine knowledge), part of this is government meddling (a quixotic pursuit of hydrogen fuel cells even after seeing leaps in lithium battery technology).
Toyota might be able to pivot through sheer brute force and Nissan might be able to pivot through sheer desperation, but it's unclear what will happen to the rest.
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I don't think there's any reason to be skeptical of Nissan on this issue given the somewhat modest, but very real success of the Leaf
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You think? I see loads of new Hondas on the road. I could see them scaling back, but they seem on the whole to be pretty successful and well-reviewed vehicles.
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Who is asking for a screen on the outside of their car? Who is asking for a screen on the outside of anyone else’s car?
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I don't comment very much, but I'm VERY bummed about the end of production on the Prolog. When my wife and I were looking at EV's it was between that an the Mach-E. My wife liked the form factor on the E, which is what we went with, but I cannot tell you how much I ADORED the physical environmental and stereo controls on the Prolog. I've seen more and more of them in the wild of late, so the end of production in December is a real downer. Ugh.
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Afeela was a neat concept, but not an ideal price value proposition or competitive vehicle lineup. But I wanted it to succeed because we need more EVs options in the US market.
I’m irritated with Japanese manufacturers lack of EV initiatives and subpar EVs. The Honda 0 series was at least more affordable, even if it was a bit behind it tech.
I own a Honda Prologue. I love it, but I also understand it’s a Chevy Blazer EV with a Honda wrapping a slightly modified suspension.
To repeat; I’m simply irritated with what’s happening with some of these manufacturers. I’m frustrated by US propaganda against EVs.
I’m irritated with Japanese manufacturers lack of EV initiatives and subpar EVs. The Honda 0 series was at least more affordable, even if it was a bit behind it tech.
I own a Honda Prologue. I love it, but I also understand it’s a Chevy Blazer EV with a Honda wrapping a slightly modified suspension.
To repeat; I’m simply irritated with what’s happening with some of these manufacturers. I’m frustrated by US propaganda against EVs.
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Just buy a lightly used one for tens of thousands off the MSRP. They're also not really a Honda
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Honda already know the formula for one of the best cars in the world -- the Accord Hybrid -- a rock solid 4-door sedan with good ergonomics, nice interiors, a giant trunk, decent looks, and great mileage. Do that, but as an EV. I'll buy it.
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Honda is going to go all in on hybrids very much like Toyota.
Honda will replace the current 2 L four-cylinder gas engine used on the hybrid with a new gas engine and an upgrade hybrid system. Should debut in the next Civic/CRV redesign around 2027.
A new V6 gas engine + hybrid is also expected sometime next year. They haven’t said which models will feature this. My guess is that it will slot into everything from the Odyssey minivan to the passport.
Honda has a much smaller product portfolio than Toyota, so with the upcoming V6 hybrid, that should cover everything they make with a hybrid option.
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Same. I was looking at the Prologue for when the kids were older. Test drove one and really liked it. I was hoping that most of the gremlins in the platform would have been ironed out by then. Oh well.
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We're in year 2 of a 3 year lease on a AWD prologue. It's our first electric (and I've never been a honda fan) but the car is really great. Very wide and comfy inside, mostly intuitive controls, handles well. Only complaint is that it needs another 50 miles on the range for our typical uses.
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I owned and liked several Accords - five, I think, the last being a hybrid. I thought of it as a hybrid-for-performance, as opposed to a hybrid-for-economy like the Prius. In 2019 I considered another Accord hybrid, but got a Tesla instead. 82000 miles later, I'm still happy with my choice. But I'm also disappointed in Honda's reluctance to develop an EV.
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Honda ev plan is only shuttered in some places like the US.
Honda ev plan is still ongoing in India, for example.
I wonder why afeela is totally canceled worldwide.
Honda ev plan is still ongoing in India, for example.
I wonder why afeela is totally canceled worldwide.
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This is a horrible harbinger for what could be decimation of the US automotive industry. The rest of the world is moving to EV. The US is stuck on combustion. China now has the lead on cheap, decent EVs.
I am so disappointed that there are ZERO cheap EV options. I think this is an untapped market.
Trump's revocation of the EV tax break puts money in the hands of oil companies, but ultimately destroys any chance the US had at having a future EV market. Gone baby gone.
I am so disappointed that there are ZERO cheap EV options. I think this is an untapped market.
Trump's revocation of the EV tax break puts money in the hands of oil companies, but ultimately destroys any chance the US had at having a future EV market. Gone baby gone.
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On the other hand, most Japanese companies are really bad at software, especially human interface. They just don't seem to allocate enough time and resources to user interface design. Sony is no exception, maybe even worse than average (look at Nikon vs. Sony cameras for example).
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I my other car is an Ioniq 6... about 40k miles on it so far and its a very nice car. But every time I set foot in the Accord Hybrid I'm reminded of how high a bar Honda has set with it. If they can deliver the same value and refinement in an EV, they'll have a winner on their hands.
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The car looked like a robotaxi with the sensor tumors, had aggressively boring styling, an absurd name, no brand cachet, and middling specs - all wrapped up in a sedan form factor that nobody wants. For a mere $90K+. What could go wrong?
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Well, yes and no.
US market vehicles are not infrequently illegal to drive in other countries to start with...which is why US auto brands have foreign-specific market cars that are far more sane that they just don't sell in the USA.
Secondly due to the Biden and Trump protectionist tariffs on imports...in addition to preexisting farces like like the decades old Chicken Tax...the US is an increasingly captive market to the SUV/pickup makers of Detroit who only want to make and sell SUVs/pickups as an end-around CAFE (which was defanged anyway). Don't weep much for the US auto industry--they're raking it in. And will continue to do so. We citizens are going to increasingly have no other choice but to buy Detroit branded vehicles whether we want to or not.
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The concepts I saw looked nice, name was stupid though imho. We have a Honda e for ~2 years now and it is one of the coolest cars ever. I still wonder how Honda could pull this off while failing to do it again with a bigger car. Went with an IONIQ 5 from Hyundai for the long-range/family needs which is also a very cool EV. I like both, but the Honda e casts a smile upon the driver’s face every time. 
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