June 16, 2022, Tokyo, Japan – Sony Group Corporation (“Sony”) and Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (“Honda”) announced today that they have signed a joint venture agreement to establish a new company to engage in the sale of high-value-added electric vehicles (EVs) and provide services for mobility. Today’s announcement is the furtherance and result of discussion of a strategic alliance in the mobility field between the parties as announced in the joint press release entitled “Sony and Honda Sign Memorandum of Understanding for Strategic Alliance in Mobility Field” on March 4, 2022.
■ Honda will strive to transform its business portfolio by shifting focus from non-recurring hardware (product) sales business to recurring business in which Honda continues to offer various services and value to its customers after the sale through Honda products that combine hardware and software. ■ Over the next 10 years, Honda will allocate approximately 5 trillion yen in the area of electrification and software technologies to further accelerate its electrification, including both R&D expenses and separate investments. Honda’s overall R&D expenses budgeted for this period will be approximately 8 trillion yen. ■ Honda is planning to launch 30 EV models globally by 2030 with production volume of more than 2 million units annually. ■ Honda will build a demonstration line for the production of all-solid-state batteries with an investment of approximately 43 billion yen and further accelerate the research with a goal to start demonstration production in Spring 2024.
Honda has announced plans to begin a battery sharing service for electric tricycle taxis (rickshaws) in India, in the first half of 2022, using the Honda Mobile Power Pack e: (MPP e:), Honda’s all-new portable and swappable batteries
