Pre-orders open for $100,000 Sony EV – but only in one US state

Half a decade after Sony shocked us with the news that it would make its own car – and more than two years since it joined forces with Honda – the tech company’s first EV is finally here.

Presented in “near final” form at this week’s CES technology show in Las Vegas, the Afeela 1 by Sony Honda Mobility is an electric car priced from $89,900 (£71,600).

That’s the price of the entry-level car, called Origin, which carries an estimated delivery date of 2027. The pricier Afeela 1 Signature is $102,900 (£82,000) and Sony Honda Mobility says deliveries of that version will start in mid-2026.

The Afeela 1 Origin is only offered in a colour called Core Black, with a matching black interior, while the Signature comes in two extra colours called Calm White and Tidal Grey. The pricier model also has larger wheels (21 inches compared to 19in for the Origin) and an entertainment system for rear-seat passengers.

That system comprises a pair of 12.9-inch LED screens mounted to the back of the front seats. As well as being fed by the car’s onboard entertainment system, the screens work with an HDMI port in the centre console. Meanwhile, the dashboard features a huge infotainment display, a smaller driver display behind what’s more of a topless steering yoke than a wheel, and a pair of screens that work with cameras to act as digital door mirrors.

Sony Honda Mobility says the Afeela 1 is laden with technology, including 40 sensors that contribute to offer Level 2+ autonomous driver assistance. The car has 18 cameras, one lidar system (sprouting prominently from the front of the roof), nine radars and 12 ultrasonic sensors.

Other tech includes an AI-powered personal assistant, an information display mounted to the outside of the car, called the Media Bar, a navigation with what’s described as immersive 3D mapping, an onboard entertainment selection and 5G connectivity. The car is also compatible with Tesla’s Supercharger network, and its makers boast of it packing 800 TOPS (trillions of operations per second) of computing power.

Sony Honda Mobility hasn’t revealed much about the car’s performance, other than it having up to 300 miles of EPA-estimated range.

This all sounds reasonably promising, but readers outside of the US might have to wait a long time to see an Afeela 1 on their driveway. That’s because, while the Sony Honda Mobility website invites interested buyers to place a $200 refundable deposit, only residents of California can do so, at least for now.