Sony Group Corp (NYSE:SONY) has emerged as a new entrant in the electric vehicle arms race, as it revealed early plans for an electric vehicle (EV) prototype and a new subsidiary to take on Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), Lucid Group other traditional car manufacturers.
The Japanese tech giant, best known for its work in video gaming, music and film, said it is launching a new company, Sony Mobility Inc, as it is “exploring a commercial launch” of a range of electric vehicles.
The first of these are likely to be the Vision-S 01 and Vision-S 02, a sedan and a sports utility vehicle (SUV) respectively.
“With our imaging and sensing, cloud, 5G and entertainment technologies combined with our content mastery, we believe Sony is well positioned as a creative entertainment company to redefine mobility,” Sony chairman and president Kenichiro Yoshida told reporters.
Unveiling the SUV today, with a full launch at this week’s CES tech event in Las Vegas, Sony said the prototype uses the same system and platform as the Vision-S 01, which was launched two years ago and is currently undertaking road tests.
The original Vision-S was originally seen as a way to promote Sony's batteries and sensors to other car manufacturers.
The Japanese company will be entering a fiercely competitive market where Tesla jumped to a lead, but is facing off new rivals such as Lucid, while traditional carmakers like Volkswagen, General Motors and Mercedes-Benz are looking to wrestle back their previous dominance.
Mercedes announced earlier this week that its Vision EQXX model could travel up to 1000km on a single charge, further than the 560km for Tesla’s Model S and almost 900km for Lucid’s Air Dream Edition.
Sony has not yet announced any details on the range on its vehicles.
Shares in Ford and GM surged this week with investors excited by the prospects of their future EVs.
Ford announced it will be doubling production to 150,000 vehicles for its F-150 Lighting EV, with it claiming to already have over 200,000 reservations.
GM also debuted its Chevrolet Silverado electric pickup, which is slated for sale in early 2023.