The upcoming AFEELA EV, a joint effort between Sony and Honda, is now out there for viewing to the general public in Los Angeles, upfront of its scheduled California launch in 2026.
We first heard about Sony’s upcoming EV again at CES 2020, the place the corporate introduced a shock EV idea which, frankly, we by no means thought would occur.
Quick ahead to now, and after lots of developments and a partnership with Honda, Sony is now promising that the automobile will likely be out there subsequent 12 months – in California, not less than. It just lately began taking $200 reservations, although these are restricted to California solely in the meanwhile.
Upfront of this launch, Sony Honda Mobility (SHM) is now exhibiting the automobile to the general public, in what has change into a preferred methodology for EV makers (ever since Tesla and George Blankenship pioneered it): opening a mall retailer.
That retailer is true within the coronary heart of the place the AFEELA EV is likely to be the most well-liked – Century Metropolis, a neighborhood of Los Angeles with an extended historical past of attachment to the film business, on the Westfield Century Metropolis mall on Santa Monica Blvd.
The storefront opened to the general public this weekend, and will likely be open for the following six months (till August 1). The general public can come round at any time and take a look on the automobile and ask questions, or can e book a demo of the automobile’s inside and applied sciences (however no check drives but, although).
We beforehand had an opportunity to get fingers on with the AFEELA prototype on the similar mall, although that was at a brief sales space moderately than a devoted retailer house. It was stuffed with fairly a number of neat options, however there was nonetheless lots of work to be performed.
As a reminder, SHM just lately introduced a $90k base worth for the AFEELA, although left the door open for extra subscription charges for some options after an preliminary 3-year interval. The primary out there trim degree, the AFEELA 1 Signature, will begin at $103k.
So, in case you’d wish to test it out for your self and are in Southern California, you’ll be able to head on over any time, or e book a time slot upfront for an in-car demonstration.
Electrek’s Take
I’ve been impressed with the maturity of the tempo of Sony’s bulletins with this automobile. Whereas it appeared a bit pie-in-the-sky initially after they introduced the idea, yearly they’ve refined it and have largely evaded making unrealistic guarantees or loopy timelines, in contrast to another EV startups on the market.
That’s, till final 12 months, after they joined the AI buzzword bandwagon, which appeared like a complete waste of time. Plus, the current announcement suggesting long-term subscription charges for characteristic use was not nice to listen to – however that hasn’t been finalized but, so we’ll should see precisely the place issues go from right here.
There does nonetheless appear to be lots of work to do over the course of the following 12 months earlier than the AFEELA’s “mid-2026” launch, however issues do factor to be progressing at an affordable tempo
And, oddly sufficient, that is going to be one of many first Japanese EVs out there within the US. Toyota has the bZ4X (and its companion the Subaru Solterra), Nissan has the Leaf and Ariya, and Honda has the Prologue – which is made in partnership with GM. In the meantime, an organization recognized for its shopper leisure merchandise goes to leap into the pack with the remainder of its nation’s auto business – by constructing a ground-up EV earlier than a few of its countrymen did so.
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