A closer look at the Sony Afeela 1 and why it never happened as Honda pulls the plug

The Afeela 1 – a PlayStation on wheels built by Sony and Honda – isn’t going to happen for reasons that a lot of people will label as ‘predictable.’

Hindsight is always 20/20 – true – but it still came as a surprise.

Mostly because we were still getting updates on it until weeks ago.

This isn’t the end of the Sony-Honda relationship per se, but it is the end of the road for the Afeela – and here’s why.

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We’ve seen this before

It isn’t exactly an apples-to-apples comparison, but Sony’s – and Honda’s – decision to pull the plug on Afeela 1 reminds us of the Apple Car.

After throwing a lot of money and R&D at Project Titan, the unconfirmed name of the project, Apple changed its mind and steered away from the venture.

Sony did something similar, but for different reasons, and in a different way.

Unlike the Apple Car, Sony did unveil a few prototypes for Afeela 1.

Built in partnership with Honda, this was a concept car that was visible and tangible.

It existed.

We saw one in person, and even though we didn’t get to drive it, it did feel like a finished product.

Although maybe there was nothing under the hood and the car was just a shell – which would be nothing new in the automotive world.

Still, it was the scale of the ambition that clashed with reality and sealed this car’s fate.

Especially when they told us where this car would be sold.

Why Honda and Sony canceled this car

Like so many other tech companies – Huawei to Xiaomi, for example – Sony wanted a piece of the automotive pie, and it turned to Honda to help it build the car.

It was going to be a premium product, which you could not only tell by the proposed price tag, just shy of six figures, but also when you experienced the car in person.

It felt solid, well-built, and it was a tech fest.

Most cars are tech festivals these days, but Sony was going to go the extra mile by integrating PlayStation into the car alongside several other unique software tweaks.

Afeela 1 was going to include 40+ sensors, including 18 cameras and a roof-mounted LiDAR.

And everything from the powertrain to the infotainment system and even ride feel would’ve been upgraded like a smartphone.

To be clear, Sony had to pull the plug because Honda made that decision.

In today’s market and uncertainty, a $100,000 car exclusively available in California was evidently a bit too niche to make sense financially and commercially.

Pity.