On March 4, 2022, Japan’s Sony and Honda joined hands. I’m going to build an electric car together. We will create a joint venture within the year. The way it works is to do it like a startup. Honda Sonica (a name that some of the journalists wrote in this article). The name of the joint venture is not yet valued. Sentence Person names are omitted.) It is a management policy for engineers to put creative ideas on cars at will. The speed of design and development is like a startup. Is that possible? It’s a cliche that big companies always do.
Honda Sonica is a corporation decided by Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe and Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida in person. The story came out last summer, and it took less than a year to announce it. It’s not an easy pace in the corporate climate.
What was frustrating about the electric car was Honda’s Toshihiro. To be honest, electric cars are the trend, so Honda’s Meebe can’t be unaware of it. As soon as he took office in April 2021, he will launch a “de-engine for sales of new cars in 2040. Under the direct control of the president, we create a power business promotion office. It was a “promotion room,” but the existing business headquarters, the four-wheel business headquarters (automobile) and the two-wheel business headquarters (motorcycle), are not moving because they are one step below. It will be upgraded to ‘Electric Business Development Headquarters’ in April 2022. Get rid of the engine. But he said, “The boss plays the flute, but the organization doesn’t dance.” (Nihon Keizai Shimbun) Honda is a big company. The existing organization is going to be easy, ‘Yes, sir. You can’t say, “I’ll rip it off and fix it.”
The same goes for Sony’s Kenichiro Yoshida. Sony, a famous electronics maker in the past, wants to be an electric car. For Sony, electric vehicles (or self-driving cars) are a huge entertainment space. It’s hundreds, thousands of times the innovation of Sony Walkman. Sony announced its entry into electric vehicles in January 2020 and released a concept car. I ran like crazy for two years. I developed all kinds of technologies such as sensors, communication, and entertainment, and I searched for friendships. “From parts technology to software and services, everything is done. But who will make it for me? That’s my last concern. Consignment production? It’s not easy. Since it’s a huge iron machine, you have to roll from the design to the last screw bolt in the first place. Furthermore, considering the safety issues, it’s not as good as a smartphone to build a blueprint and put it together. As Apple is rumored to be meeting with automakers these days, automobile manufacturing partners are essential.