Sony and Honda first decided to get together and make a car back in 2023. Now, these are two brilliant, innovative Japanese brands, so the idea of them collaborating to make a car is a great idea. Now, the joint venture - called the Sony Honda Mobility (SHM) have come up with this: the SHM Afeela 1. And we've been to see it!
When will the new SHM Afeela 1 go on sale?
Well, at the moment it's only offered in America, which is where the car is made, and where I got to see it for the first time. There's no word on when it will come to the UK, yet. We know that it'll launch in Japan next year and it is a global car, so it is expected to come to the UK in the near(ish) future, but exact timings haven't been confirmed.
What is the SHM Afeela 1, and what cool tech features does it have?
Right, so the SHM Afeela 1 is a 4.9-metre long saloon, but it's got a big hatchback opening - a bit like the VW ID.7 and Tesla Model S, both of which are rivals to the Afeela 1. This is a very tech-led car, though. It is partly designed and built by a tech company, after all. So you don't get door handles, just buttons and sensors, and you get 40 cameras and lidars that give the Afeela 1 a very high level of autonomous ability. It'll be able to sense objects or obstructions in the road before you can, according to company sources, so it should be able to match (maybe better?) Tesla's class-leading semi-autonomous systems. It won't be able to completely drive itself, yet, as that's still not legal, but it is one of the most advanced semi-autonomous cars that you can buy (if you're in America, anyway...)
The side mirrors also have a camera function and can be used like traditional side mirrors, which seems like a great idea to me as I like camera assistance but hate having to rely solely on camera side-mirrors. Hate it. So the idea of having both makes a lot of sense!
Get into the Afeela 1 and it automatically starts talking to you when it wakes up. It'll ask you how your day is, it'll tell you what's on your itinerary for the day if you've linked your calendar to the car's system, it'll even tell you what the car's features are. Those include 28 speakers, making this essentially a rolling disco... I mean, with Sony behind this car you didn't expect a sub-par sound system, did you?!
It's also got a panoramic touchscreen that's very configurable. You can set it to welcome you with a personalised banner, you can choose your shortcuts... It also runs across the dash to offer the passenger a screen, so that they can stream a film or TV show, but it won't be visible to the driver. And, obviously, everyone lives with noise-cancelling headphones in these days - they certainly do if my teenager is anything to go by. So that won't be a problem, will it?!
What range does the SHM Afeela get?
Sony and Honda have given the all-electric Afeela 1 a 91kWh battery that's good for an EPA range of 300 miles. EPA is the American equivalent of WLTP, but the American system is a bit more stringent than ours so the range it states is much close to what you'll get in the real world. I'd estimate that the Afeela 1 will manage a WLTP range of more like 370-ish miles, given that this isn't a lightweight car and it gets dual electric motors with 489hp - so it's not going to be slow, either!
Charging speeds are up to 150kW, which is okay and will get you a 100 mile top-up in around 15 minutes. But it still feels a bit behind the times given that Tesla, Mercedes, Kia, Hyundai, Porsche, Polestar, Zeekr and more are all charging at closer to (or over, in some instances) 300kW. I wonder if SHM will manage to improve that by the time it comes to the UK? After all, the Afeela 1 is a premium car, so it really does need to compete with the premium rivals when it comes to charging convenience.
How much will the SHM Afeela 1 cost?
The Afeela 1 is on sale for $90,000 in America, so it's not cheap. That's nearly £70,000 in the UK, and while there's no guarantee that the Afeela 1 will make it to the UK for that price, SHM is going to have to work hard to persuade the UK consumer that this is a better buy than a Porsche Taycan. Mind you, I was pretty impressed with the interior materials in the Afeela 1 when I had a look round it in the Hollywood showroom I viewed it in. And it's spacious, too, not to mention stuffed with cutting-edge tech! Maybe it'll find a niche, then, but I'll wait and see how much the SHM Afeela 1 costs when it gets to the UK before I make any final judgements...
What do you think of it? It's pretty cool, isn't it? I'm just not sure that it isn't already a bit outclassed on some fronts?! Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment on the YouTube vid.
The Afeela 1 has a screen that runs the full width of the dashboard 
