Game on! Sony partners with Honda to bring the PlayStation car to life: New Japanese electric cars due from 2025 via Tesla-rivalling joint venture

The PlayStation is about to get four wheels, as tech giant Sony and fellow Japanese juggernaut Honda have signed a memorandum of understanding for a new joint venture that will produce all-electric vehicles (EVs) from 2025.

That’s right; Sony is about to become a big player in the automotive industry, with it setting its sights on leading EV specialist Tesla. But the tech giant won’t be doing it alone. In fact, Honda will be solely responsible for manufacturing its first model.

“This alliance aims to bring together Honda's mobility development capabilities, vehicle body manufacturing technology and aftersales service management experience cultivated over many years, with Sony's expertise in the development and application of imaging, sensing, telecommunication, network and entertainment technologies, to realise a new generation of mobility and services that are closely aligned with users and the environment, and continue to evolve going forward,” Sony and Honda said in a joint press release.

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Sony and Honda are continuing negotiations towards the required definitive binding agreements and aim to establish their joint venture later this year, pending regulatory approvals.

So, what can we expect from the Sony-Honda alliance? Well, the tech giant dropped a couple of big hints in the past two years, with January 2020’s Vision-S 01 sedan and January 2022’s Vision-S 02 SUV concepts showing its initial take on the EV.

The seven-seat Vision-S 02 is essentially a higher-riding version of the four-seat Vision-S 01, with it measuring 4895mm long (with a 3030mm wheelbase), 1930mm wide and 1650mm tall. As such, it rivals the BMW iX, among other premium large SUVs.

Just like the Mercedes-Benz EQE-rivalling Vision-S 01, the Vision-S 02 is motivated by a dual-motor powertrain with all-wheel drive. Both the front and rear axles produce 200kW of power, for a combined 400kW. Battery capacity and driving range are unknown.

2022 Sony Vision-S 02 SUV concept

The Vision-S 02’s zero-to-100km/h sprint time is also yet to be claimed, but it’s likely to be marginally slower than the Vision-S 01’s 4.8 seconds due to its 130kg weight penalty, at 2480kg. The former’s top speed is up to 60km/h lower, at from 180km/h.

For reference, the Vision-S 01 and, therefore, the Vision-S 02 were made possible by Sony partnering with automotive specialists Magna-Steyr, ZF, Bosch and Continental, as well as technology brands including Qualcomm, Nvidia and Blackberry.