AFEELA: Sony Honda Mobility has taken to CES 2024 to reveal an updated version of its Afeela prototype, as it’s inching closer to production. This sleek electric sedan has undergone several noteworthy changes, offering a good idea what we can anticipate when it officially launches in 2025.
AFEELA – EXTERIOR DESIGN
Visually, the Afeela shows a more polished appearance, starting with a revamped front-end design. The front bumper now has a sporty black strip on the lower bumper, with illuminated badging, a full-width light bar, and wrap-around headlights. The adoption of traditional side mirrors and slightly thicker roof pillars, albeit with a gloss black finish and flush fitment, were probably necessary in the transition from a concept to a road-ready vehicle.
At the rear, the Afeela boasts a beefier bumper and an active rear spoiler, while the trunk lid retains its attractive design. There are clearly visible hints of Lucid Air and Toyota Crown influences in the vehicle’s overall aesthetic.
The Afeela also reveals significant cabin updates. While some features carry over from the original prototype, such as the yoke-style steering wheel and a wide dashboard-spanning screen, the latest version introduces a larger center console with dual wireless charging pads.
AFEELA- with AI
The vehicle will leverage artificial intelligence (AI) for its driver assistance systems, working in conjunction with several undisclosed sensors. Sony Honda Mobility plans to implement Vision Transformer, a deep learning model specialized in image recognition, for path planning, with a redundancy system in place to ensure safety. Qualcomm’s chipsets will power these systems.
On the entertainment front, Sony Honda Mobility has joined forces with Epic Games to create immersive displays capable of simulating external environmental conditions for pedestrians, weather, and other vehicles. Utilizing the Unreal Engine 5.3 gaming engine, this partnership might pave the way for in-car gaming experiences a class above what is currently available in the market.
Sony Honda Mobility has more exciting plans for gamers, announcing a collaboration with Polyphony Digital to introduce the electric Afeela to Gran Turismo 7 later this year. The company is also working with Microsoft to co-develop a “conversational personal agent” based on Azure OpenAI software, aiming to establish itself as a leader in sophisticated digital assistants.
AFEELA – ENGINE
As a quick reminder, the Afeela features permanent magnet synchronous motors on both front and rear axles, each producing 241 horsepower, resulting in a total output of 482 hp. While Sony Honda Mobility hasn’t disclosed the vehicle’s range, it can be charged at up to 150 kW on a DC charger. Interestingly, the Afeela has grown slightly in size, now measuring 4,915 mm in length, while all other dimensions remain consistent with the prototype.
It was announced earlier this year that Sony and Honda, two brands that need no introduction, are teaming up to produce electric vehicles. Now the company formed from the partnership, called Sony Honda Mobility, has announced it will reveal its first project in January at CES 2023.
The announcement has certainly led to excitement in the T3 office, with reports that Honda will focus on the car side of things, while Sony will be creating the infotainment experience, including in-car music, movie and gaming systems.
SONY PLAYSTATION 5 in AFEELA
There are even rumours that the vehicle will essentially feature a Playstation 5 built into it. If you’ve ever spent an hour or two at a public charger – you know how appealing this sounds!
The recent news comes from a Tweet from the company announcing the premiere will take place during Sony’s press conference at CES on Wednesday 4 January.
The Tweet is accompanied by a brief teaser video posted on YouTube.
The video certainly doesn’t give much away, simply showing part of the bonnet. So we can’t wait to actually see what this car will look like.
Of course, Sony has shown off a concept car at CES before, all the way back in 2020. The Vision-S 01 and Vision-S 02 are actually very nice-looking vehicles with a focus on refinement, creativity and technology.
The company’s president, Izumi Kawanishi has stated, ‘Sony has content, services and entertainment technologies that move people.
‘We are adapting these assets to mobility, and this is our strength against Tesla.’
T3 will be at CES bringing you all of the latest Sony Honda car news – stay tuned!
AFEELA -Range?
The lithium-ion battery has a listed capacity of 91.0 kWh, but Afeela has yet to publish range figures. Afeela says the sedan is capable of DC charging at up to 150 kW, with AC charging maxing out at 11 kW. The air suspension is supported by unequal-length control arms up front and a multi-link setup at the rear.
The front tires measure 245/40 and the rear rubber is listed at 275/35, with the Afeela riding on 21-inch wheels all around.
SONY HONDA AFEELA AVAILABILITY:
Orders for the Afeela sedan, which has yet to be given a specific model name, will open in 2025, with U.S. sales set to begin in 2026.
Little else is known about the company’s plans, but we expect the Afeela to start around $45,000.
The sedan is also set to be added to the Gran Turismo 7 video game later this year, allowing anyone to drive it virtually two years before the Afeela hits the road.
AFEELA – Mobility-Service
By 2022, Honda was being discussed as a partner to the Sony effort, and a memorandum of understanding between the two Japanese giants was signed with the intent to form a joint venture that would produce EVs, with a strong emphasis on also providing mobility services and in-car entertainment.
Mobility service sounds like what cars provide—transportation from point A to point B. But it has come to mean so much more.
As Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) has entered the lexicon, the demand for a variety of personal transportation options has provided opportunities for service providers such as ridesharing, bike, scooter, and car-sharing services, and ultimately autonomous self-driving cars.
As the idea of MaaS has spread, it brings into question the need for private vehicle ownership, promoting the use of an on-demand autonomous transportation service for the majority of transportation needs instead.
Sony and Honda 2022
This brings us to Sony Honda Mobility Inc. (SHM), an EV joint venture that unveiled its AFEELA prototype at CES 2023. This is not a driver’s car like a Porsche, nor is it a status car like a Tesla or a Lucid. It exists not only to travel from point A to Point B but, more importantly, acts as an entertainment module, a place to beam focused advertisements, and a source of ever-increasing amounts of consumer data mined from its passengers.
The somewhat awkward AFEELA name is said by SHM to express an interactive relationship where people “FEEL” the mobility the vehicle provides as an intelligent entity, and the vehicle “FEELs” people and society through its array of sensing and network IT technologies.
Production is planned to begin in 2026.
AFEELA as an entertainment module
AFEELA – AUTOPILOT MODE
This is not a vehicle designed for the driver. In fact, with a system of 45 cameras and sensors, an on-board computer that exceeds 800 TOPS (trillion operations per second), and the application of the Qualcomm Snapdragon System on a Chip (SoC) Digital Chassis that will permit SAE Level 2 autonomous driver assistance in urban driving and Level 3 assistance in some limited conditions.
Moreover, the dash is covered from side to side with various video screens that will provide entertainment (and those all-important advertisements) to captive passengers during their journey.
SHM says that the AFEELA will provide “a personalized in-car experience through cloud-service connectivity, realizing entertainment beyond driving.”
To enhance this effort, the joint venture is working with game video game creator Epic Games to explore new ways to create augmented reality experiences in the vehicle.
AFEELA. Image used courtesy of SMH
AFEELA – An Electric Vehicle or a Mobility Appliance?
If you are looking for any specifications about the AFEELA vehicle itself, you might be disappointed. Other than saying it will be a five-passenger, all-wheel-drive EV sedan, SHM is probably correct in how they are reading the room—their prototype is a mobility appliance, and there aren’t many people who actually care what kind of electric motor operates their refrigerator or washer and dryer.
In the past, this has not been the type of vehicle Honda has produced. The company has frequently delivered sporty cars that are fun to drive, providing a high level of driver involvement while also being known for their reliability and value. When Honda abandons its traditional emphasis on the driver to become a rolling video game parlor, it’s clear that the role of the automobile in our society has fundamentally changed.
AFEELA CAR PRICE:
The 2026 Afeela EV Sedan is anticipated to begin selling for approximately $45,000. we estimate that the starting price of this kind of car will be around $45,000.
Please let us know, will you buy this car or not? in the comment below.
I will Definitely buy this car in 2026 🙂
🙂
Very good work