Sony and Honda Scale Back Joint EV Venture After AFEELA Cancellation

KEY POINTS

• Sony and Honda scale back Sony Honda Mobility operations, reassigning all employees to parent companies after AFEELA EV programme cancellation
• Honda's March 2026 EV strategy overhaul triggered conclusion that near-term commercialisation under existing SHM framework was not feasible
• Sony and Honda reaffirm founding philosophy, pledging continued talks on software-defined mobility collaboration for advanced driver-assistance era

Sony Honda Mobility to cut operations and redeploy all staff to parent firms after Honda's EV strategy overhaul made near-term product launches unfeasible under the existing joint venture structure. Photo by Alex Durynin on Unsplash

Sony Group Corp. and Honda Motor Co. said Monday they have agreed to scale back operations at Sony Honda Mobility Co. (SHM) after concluding that, under the existing framework, it would be difficult to find a feasible way in the short to medium term to bring to market the products and services envisioned at the joint venture's founding.