The Sony-Honda electric vehicle dream just died. Sony Honda Mobility announced today it's killing the $90,000 Afeela 1 sedan and its unnamed SUV concept before they ever really got started, marking one of the most spectacular flame-outs in the EV gold rush. The decision comes on the heels of Honda's staggering $15.7 billion writedown on its EV investments - the automaker's first annual loss in over seven decades as a public company.
Sony Honda Mobility just became the latest casualty in the great EV reckoning of 2026. The joint venture between Sony and Honda announced today it's pulling the plug on its entire Afeela lineup - both the $90,000 sedan that was supposed to ship this year and the SUV concept teased at CES 2026. According to the company's official statement, there simply wasn't a "viable path forward" after Honda recalibrated its entire EV strategy.
The timing tells you everything. Earlier this month, Honda dropped a bombshell in its earnings report, announcing a writedown of up to 2.5 trillion yen - that's $15.7 billion with a B - on its electric vehicle investments. The loss represents the company's first red ink in over 70 years as a publicly traded entity, a stunning reversal for an automaker that's been printing money since the 1950s.
The Afeela project was supposed to be different. When Sony and Honda first announced their partnership, the pitch was irresistible - marry Sony's prowess in entertainment, imaging sensors, and user experience with Honda's decades of automotive manufacturing expertise. The Afeela 1 promised features you'd expect from a Sony product: advanced driver assistance systems, immersive in-car entertainment, and a software-first approach that felt more Silicon Valley than Detroit.
But the market had other plans. EV demand has cooled considerably from the fever pitch of 2021 and 2022, when every automaker was racing to announce ambitious electrification targets. Policy uncertainty hasn't helped either. With shifting government incentives and infrastructure buildout slower than anticipated, the calculus for expensive EV programs has fundamentally changed.
