Sony Group [6758:JP] and Honda Motor [7267:JP] plan to form an electric vehicle (EV) joint venture (JV), as reported by Japan Times on March 4. The two Japanese companies aim to debut the JV’s first EV model in 2025. According to a joint statement, Honda will be responsible for manufacturing the first model, while Sony will develop the mobility service platform. The JV marks Sony’s further attempt to participate in the booming EV industry. Earlier in January, Sony announced its entrance to the EV market with a new subsidiary called Sony Mobility and rolled out a new EV prototype, its Vision-S electric car.

Honda was the first Japanese automaker to publicly state that it will phase out sales of petrol vehicles, vowing to achieve this goal by 2040. Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe stated that the company must match the international trend of adopting stricter environmental rules. This was not an overstatement, as the EU had proposed last July that it would ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035. Aside from the JV with Sony, Honda also formed a partnership with US automaker General Motors [GM:US] in September 2020. The two companies will jointly develop two EV models due to debut in the US in 2024. In March 2022, Honda also announced that it will issue green bonds worth USD2.75bn to fund the development of EVs and back environmental initiatives.

Sources:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/03/04/business/corporate-business/sony-honda-ev/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-04/sony-teams-up-with-honda-for-an-electric-car-venture

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Automobiles/Honda-ready-for-quicker-shift-to-all-electrified-lineup-CEO-hints

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/eu-proposes-effective-ban-new-fossil-fuel-car-sales-2035-2021-07-14/