Sony Honda Mobility has introduced its AFEELA 1 EV at the Consumer Electronics Show, finally giving a (nearly) full unveil to the car that’s expected to go on sale in California in 2026.
Sony has been teasing us with an EV project for years now, starting back in 2020 with a surprise unveil at its CES keynote. At the time, it was called the VISION-S project and we thought there was no way it would happen… but later Sony partnered with Honda, then the car got the name “AFEELA” in 2023, and a 2026 release date.
Today Sony gave us another annual update of its AFEELA vehicle, though focused its keynote less on it than it has in the past. The roughly 6 minute segment of its CES keynote dedicated to the car didn’t tell us a whole lot of new information compared to past years, but it did give us perhaps the most important information yet: pricing and availability.
The big news today is that the car will be called the AFEELA 1, and reservations are now open at $200 a pop, with a base price of $89,900 for the “Origin” trim, and $102,900 for the “Signature” trim.
Sony didn’t tell us much more about the difference between these trim levels, but there is a short rundown available on the AFEELA website. The additional $13k for the Signature trim gets you more color choices, rear screens (which you can see in our hands-on of the vehicle prototype), a camera rear-view mirror, and larger wheels.
But, perhaps more importantly, it also gets you the car a year earlier, in “mid 2026,” whereas the Origin series is only available in 2027 (strangely, the original cars will not have the origin trim).
But we may learn more later, as the site also claims that “features may vary.” This is certainly not a full spec sheet, so we’re expecting to learn more as time goes on.
In previous keynotes, Sony has touted its expertise in software and entertainment and said that that will help them make a vehicle that better integrates vehicle software to provide entertainment for passengers and guidance for drivers through its “AFEELA personal agent” and electronic drivers aids (and 45 sensors for potential autonomous driving tasks).
One of tonight’s demos included Sony Honda Mobility CEO Yasuhide Mizuno showing off Sony’s “personal agent” features by talking to the car through his phone, after which the car came out on stage, and later left stage in the same manner. Last year, Sony drove the car on stage with a PS5 controller. Sony didn’t promise that this would become a production feature, merely referring to it as a tech demo.
Sony also specified that its “personal agent” and autonomous drive features will be subscription-based, with a 3-year “complimentary subscription” included along with the car, but no information on how much it would cost after that. Sony said that this is “subject to change” – and given the negative public reaction that some car subscription fees have gotten, we think there’s a reasonable chance that change will come.
But there’s one more catch from today’s presentation: so far, reservations are only open in California.
This is something a lot of companies have done before, because California is the state with the most EVs – and also the strictest emissions rules.
Those strict emissions rules require more EV sales than many other states, so companies often choose to sell EVs in California to help offset the emissions of their other, more polluting gas vehicles. This has led to the phrase “compliance car,” referring to compliance with California’s EV rules, to describe cars that are focused more on meeting regulations than on being a serious 50-state effort by an automaker.
While Sony doesn’t have any emissions to offset, Honda does. Honda only recently started selling EVs in the US with the Prologue, which is selling quite well across many states, not just California.
So, it’s a bit weird that either of these companies would focus solely on California, as it doesn’t seem like either of them have to worry about compliance. We reached out to figure out what the timeline would be for other states, and will update you if we find out anything new.
Reservations for the AFEELA 1 are $200 and fully refundable, and can be made on AFEELA’s website now – if you’re in California.
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