The car developed by Honda and Sony is ready – it does not compete with Lucid and Tesla, at least in terms of range or performance

Sony is one of those electronics manufacturers who want to show their expertise in cars as well. Afeela 1, developed years ago with Honda, which was chosen as a partner, now seems to be ready for production after many studies and prototypes.

The order books for Afeela 1 have been opened, but the handover of the car will have to wait until at least the middle of 2026. And at least for now, the reservation book is only open to Californians. They can reserve their place in line for $200, which will be refunded with the actual order.

There is really no gimmick in the collection, as there is only one option, Afeela 1. Technical data has not been confirmed yet, but the powertrain is apparently the same as in the prototype, that is, the car has two electric motors that develop 355 kilowatts. The energy content of the driving battery was 91 kilowatt hours in the prototype, which is believed to continue in the production model. Operating distance is five hundred kilometers at those values.

In any case, performance and power are not Afeela 1’s strongest points, as it is 89 at the cheapest price The $900 car competes with the Lucid Air and Tesla Model S. They are able to offer much more power and range.

Maybe customers can be won over with an interactive relationship between the car and the owner. The price includes the three-year Afeela Intelligent Drive and Afeela Personal Agent systems and a huge amount of entertainment. By paying another 13 $000 more Get the Signature trim instead of the Origin trim to start the sale. It has e.g. 21-inch rims, rear seat entertainment system and more luxury. Instead, the color chart is like a copy from Tesla: Afeela is only available in grey, black and white.

Perhaps the most important feature of the novelty is Afeela Intelligent Drive. Driver assistance systems use cameras, probes, ultrasonic sensors and lidar to gather sufficient information. However, Afeela does not say what level of autonomous driving the system reaches.

Afeela has yet to say when the car will be available elsewhere in the US, let alone for export.