Afeela is Honda’s luxury EV – with Sony tech

Afeela is the latest technology joint venture between legacy Japanese brands, Honda and Sony.

As the Japanese car industry tries to reinterpret its context within the powerful influence of China, partnerships are providing solutions that traditional OEMs can’t execute on their own.

Honda is amid complicated negotiations to merge with Nissan and Mitsubishi. Beyond these corporate negotiations, it has a standing development project with Japanese electronics giant, Sony, which is creating a new EV luxury sedan, which debuted at CES 2025.

Creating a new EV sub-brand called Afeela, the first model is a large luxury sedan. It combines Honda’s traditional mechanical and structural engineering knowledge with Sony’s cabin architecture, sound, infotainment and UX integration expertise.

In theory, this is a terrific idea. Leveraging the established strengths of both brands.

Afeela aiming for A6

Nearly 5m long, the Afeela EV sedan should rival Audi’s A6 e-tron and Mercedes-Benz’s EQE.

Interestingly, Honda and Sony chose to launch the new sub-brand with a sedan instead of a crossover or SUV. The reason for this? The world’s two most active and tractive EV markets – California and China – are both still strong sedan markets.

Powering the Afeela is a 91kWh battery pack, claimed to deliver a real-world driving range of 482km. Although Honda and Sony haven’t confirmed the EV sedan’s total system output, the powertrain specification details two 182kW electric motors, which should deliver abundant performance.

The EV sedan’s shape is slick and true to the need for range optimization by virtue of aerodynamics. Its design silhouette is smooth with restrained surfacing and no garish creases or chrome garnish.

A pronounced lidar dome is integrated into the roof, promising to deliver advanced autonomous driving ability. This roof dome might not look elegant, but it could herald a new domain of autonomous and adaptive driving ability, revealing the level 3 autonomy prospects for near-term Hondas in development.

PlayStation on the go

Inside the Afeela, huge infotainment screens dominate. There are 40 sensors, which Sony has done much work with to create terrific infotainment and UX fusion.

Sony’s immersive 360 Reality Audio system promises to deliver an incredible theatre-worthy sound experience, and passengers can remotely connect PS4 or PS5 gaming.

Large individual screens serve the rear passengers to further enhance the possibility of on-demand gaming experience, especially on longer journeys.

Sony has enormous brand resonance for Generation Y, with its music and gaming console products being defining elements of youth and young adulthood for Millennials. Honda and Sony will be keen to test rekindling that legacy brand loyalty when Afeela’s EV sedan launches in early 2026, priced at $89 000 in California and Japan.