On April 4, Sony Group and Honda Corporation of Japan jointly announced that they have basically reached an agreement on the cooperation of pure electric vehicle business, and the two sides will jointly fund the establishment of a new company and the development of pure electric vehicles. This news has aroused great concern in the industry. What is the significance of this alliance for Sony and Honda, and what impact will it have on the Japanese auto industry?
Sony and Honda announced a joint effort to develop a pure electric vehicle
At the annual electric vehicle exhibition in Tokyo, more than 20 electric vehicles at home and abroad such as Toyota and Tesla were displayed. In addition to the electric vehicles of traditional car companies, two pure electric vehicles developed by Japanese technology giant Sony are particularly concerned in the venue, one of which is an SUV pure electric vehicle just released in January this year. In order to ensure driving safety, a total of 40 sensors are installed on the car, which uses sony's good image processing chip, and enhances the entertainment functions such as audio and games in the car.
Recently, Sony and Honda jointly announced that they will jointly form a new company to develop pure electric vehicles within the year and start sales from 2025, which has also become a hot financial news in Japan in the past two days.
In this partnership, Sony is primarily responsible for developing automotive software and in-car entertainment systems, as well as providing a mobility service platform, while Honda focuses on production and sales. Sony's president recently said that the sensors, communications and entertainment systems required for pure electric vehicles are Sony's strengths, and for Sony, this is a good opportunity to redefine the car.
This cooperation was actually proposed by Honda first. As a veteran Japanese car company, Honda took the initiative to join hands with Sony because last year Honda proposed to stop selling all forms of fuel vehicles, including hybrid vehicles, by 2040, when new cars will be limited to pure electric and fuel cell vehicles. However, so far, Honda's performance in the field of new energy vehicles has not been outstanding, so Sony, which may become a new army of car manufacturers, has naturally entered Honda's vision.
For a long time, Japan's automobile manufacturing industry has formed a vertical division of labor system with each vehicle company as the apex and supporting manufacturers as the second, which has made the vehicle enterprises gain a favorable position in the industrial chain. However, some analysts believe that with the entry of non-traditional car companies such as technology companies into the automobile industry, the original division of labor system and industrial pattern will be impacted. Honda's initiative to seek cooperation with Sony is, in a sense, an attempt by traditional car companies to cope with the great changes in the industry.
CCTV Finance