TOKYO – From personal music players to game consoles, Sony Corporation often bets to be a pioneer, but one leap into Electric Car could take risks to the next level for the Japanese consumer tech giant.
While investors were surprised when CEO Kenichiro Yoshida this week told a technology fair in Las Vegas that the company was launching Sony Mobility, their shares fell 7% on Thursday as they faltered. Think about the real challenge of delivering sensor-powered electric vehicles, consumer electronics and entertainment services.
The main goal of Sony-branded cars is to create an autonomous connected vehicle for services such as car sharing and ride-hailing, which could eventually outstrip auto sales.
Research firm MarketsandMarkets estimates that the “mobile as a service” market could grow to $40 billion by 2030 from about $3 billion last year.
But analysts point out that Sony will likely have to invest heavily in plant and equipment to bring the Vision-S EV prototype, first unveiled in Las Vegas two years ago, to market in large numbers. large enough to compete effectively.
Takaki Nakanishi, automotive analyst at the Nakanishi Research Institute in Tokyo, said of Kenichiro’s announcement: “It’s going to be a tough job to succeed.
Industry leader Tesla Inc., the first supplier tram in 2008, invested billions of dollars in revolutionizing the auto industry, counting on investors’ support as it weathered years of losses.
Now, the shift to electric vehicles is accelerating, as countries try to cut carbon emissions By phasing out gasoline and diesel cars, it could help tech companies because they are easier to build than internal combustion engines.
Mr. Nakanishi added that Sony is joining a growing list of big tech companies looking to car opportunities, including iPhone maker Apple Inc, South Korea’s LG Electronics and Taiwan’s Foxconn.
But for their vehicles to be considered road worthy, they’ll also have to comply with safety regulations far more stringent than those that apply to consumer electronics. And the components will also have to withstand the rigors of the road and the harsh outdoors.
“Sony won’t be able to do what Tesla did, the barrier is too high,” Nakanishi said, adding that an easier path for the Japanese company would be to outsource car production to Foxconn.
Sony has yet to say how it will build a branded car, but it has recruited a long-established automaker to build its EV prototype, in partnership with a factory in Austria. owned by Canadian auto manufacturer Magna International, which manufactures cars for companies including BMW car, Mercedes Benz and Toyota.
Other members of the project are based in Europe including German and French auto manufacturer Bosch automatic technology company Valeo SE and Hungary self-driving car Start AIMotive.
Old vs New
While the electric vehicle market is still small, sales growth is outpacing fossil fuel car growth, and Tesla is benefiting the most in terms of the value investors are putting. in it.
Tesla’s market capitalization is now about 4 times that of Toyota Motor Corp, although the US company’s vehicle production is only one-tenth that of the world’s largest car manufacturer.
Heritage auto manufacturers like Toyota, General Motors Co, Volkswagen and Stellantis, the owner of Chrysler, are starting to fight back with a plan to invest hundreds of billions of dollars, which will increase competition for tech companies like Sony.
For some tech companies, the appeal of electric vehicles has been diminished by the risk.
Bagless vacuum cleaner inventor James Dyson scrapped his plans to make an electric car in 2018 because of the complexity of getting a car on the road.
And Panasonic Corp, Sony’s compatriot Japanese consumer technology competitor, has also shied away from mass-market EVs, even though automotive components, including the battery it makes Tesla cars, which are currently the main sales driver.
“Panasonic is not considering the production of Panasonic-branded electric vehicles,” the spokesperson said.
