Game over: Sony and Honda have killed off their joint venture EV right before launch

A couple of weeks ago, Honda announced it was completely scrapping the launch of its 0 Series electric cars just months before they were set to go on sale. At the time, it was also very honest in admitting that it expects to see losses of up to 2.5 trillion yen in the next couple of financial years. Yikes.

And now another Honda EV has bitten the dust, with the joint venture Sony Honda Mobility (SHM) announcing that development of the Afeela 1 has been discontinued.

Of course, the Afeela did actually go on sale with pre-orders opening for Californian customers way back in January 2025. Those early adopters will apparently now get full refunds on their Sony-spec saloons, and the follow-up SUV project has also been canned.

“Since its establishment in September 2022, SHM has aimed to develop and sell high value-added mobility products and to provide mobility-related services by combining the technologies, expertise, and development capabilities of Sony and Honda,” reads the rather sad statement just released.

“However, as a result of Honda’s reassessment of its automobile electrification strategy announced on 12 March 2026, SHM will not be able to utilise certain technologies and assets that were originally planned to be provided by Honda at the time of SHM’s initial business planning.

“In light of this change, SHM has determined that it does not have a viable path forward to bring the models to market as originally planned.”

That’s that then. Although, the statement does go on to say that Sony Honda Mobility will “continue discussions” with regards to future business plans, so maybe we will get that PlayStation for the road after all…