Sony and Honda have introduced that they’re abandoning growth on its Afeela electrical car.
The automobile was a part of Sony Honda Mobility, a three way partnership established in 2021, and was initially set to launch in 2025 the place it will be constructed round a “premium leisure expertise”.
Quite a few options introduced for Afeela have been primarily based on Sony’s PlayStation merchandise and IP, to the extent that when a prototype was revealed in January 2024 it was pushed onto the stage utilizing a DualSense controller.
Final yr it was introduced that Afeela could be the primary automobile to supply PlayStation Distant Play, permitting passengers to play PS4 or PS5 video games on screens contained in the automobile.
It was then introduced in January that the automobile would even have dashboard themes primarily based on Astro Bot, God of Conflict and different PlayStation video games.
It now seems that none of this might be occurring, with Sony Honda Mobility stating its plan to “discontinue the event and launch of its first mannequin, AFEELA1, and its second mannequin” (as reported by Nikkei).
The enterprise has blamed modifications within the electrical car (EV) market on the choice, with Honda re-evaluating its EV technique as international gross sales have began to gradual. Earlier this month Honda cancelled three of its different EV launches deliberate for North America and mentioned it anticipated complete losses of $15.7 billion.
“The underlying assumptions of Sony Honda Mobility’s enterprise operations, such because the utilization of sure applied sciences and property deliberate to be supplied by Honda, have been essentially altered,” a press release from the enterprise reads.
Automobile lovers who would have preferred to have taken Afeela for a take a look at drive can at the very least nonetheless do it in a digital kind – Gran Turismo 7 added the Afeela prototype automobile in an April 2024 replace, adopted by the AFEELA1 in an August 2025 replace.
