UPDATE 2-Sony, Honda EV venture to roll out three models before 2030 - Nikkei
(Adds Sony Honda Mobility comment in paragraph 3, background in paragraph 4)
TOKYO, Feb 14 (Reuters) - A joint venture set up by Japan's Sony Group and Honda Motor will introduce three electric vehicle (EV) models by the second half of this decade, the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday.
Sony Honda Mobility will roll out a sports utility vehicle in 2027 and a compact some time in 2028 or later following a scheduled launch of a sedan in 2025 in a bid to compete with Tesla, the Nikkei reported without citing its sources.
"We continue to explore our future lineup. However, at this moment we cannot disclose anything apart from what has been announced so far," a spokesperson for Sony Honda Mobility said.
In January 2023, Sony Honda Mobility announced that it would start selling a sedan by the end of 2025 under the "Afeela" brand name, with delivery scheduled to begin early 2026 in North America.
The joint venture was formed in 2022, combining Honda's experience in engineering and building vehicles with Sony's software and gaming expertise to catch up with EV rivals. (Reporting by Maki Shiraki, Satoshi Sugiyama, Rocky Swift, Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Miral Fahmy and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
