- For the last decade,
Tesla has had a firm grasp on the EV market,
offering vehicles with giant screens,
semi-autonomous driving, and a 300 plus mile range.
Several companies have begun to fight back
with EV offerings of their own.
This includes legacy brands, like Porsche, Mercedes-Benz,
and Ford.
Even brand new companies, like Rivian and Lucid
have joined the battle to give Tesla a run for their money.
However, there is a surprise brand
that recently announced they're beginning to develop
electric cars.
We're not talking about Apple.
The company I'm talking about is Sony.
Yes, the same company that builds PlayStation 5s and TVs
wants to make electric cars.
Today, we're gonna talk about how Sony is planning
to separate themselves from the competition,
what kind of infrastructure do they have
in place for their plan to work,
and most importantly,
we're gonna see if they're in over their heads.
This video's not for Xbox fans.
If you modeled your entire personality after Daxter
when you were 11 years old, this video's for you.
Everyone knows Sony as the massive technology company
that produces a wide range of consumer
and professional electronics.
While they've been involved in the car industry for years,
offering sound systems and screens, both in new cars
as well as in the aftermarket,
they are not one of the first brands you think of
when you talk about cars.
So it was understandable
that everyone raised their eyebrows
when Sony said they wanted to make an electric car.
Could you imagine the reaction
if JBL or Bang & Olufsen out and said
they wanted to make an EV?
Probably not.
However, Sony has taken a few steps in the right direction
in hopes that the industry will take them more seriously.
Back in 2020, Sony unveiled the Vision-S 01 concept at CES
or the Consumer Electronic Show.
It was a small electric car
with a similar profile to a Tesla Model 3
At the time, journalists and EV enthusiasts were doubtful
about Sony legitimately making the leap manufacturing EVs
for the consumer.
Electrek, a news site with a focus on EVs said, quote,
"We've seen our fair share of EV concepts over the years.
Some of them seem serious and some of them didn't.
This one may lean a bit towards the latter category."
To be fair, Sony made it clear that the Vision-S 01 concept
was merely a case study,
and they didn't plan on entering the automotive space.
Electrek's take was pretty spot on in 2020.
At CES 2022,
Sony was back,
and this time they unveiled the Vision-S 02 concept.
It's a small crossover SUV
that looked similar to the Tesla Model Y.
And what was even more surprising
is that it looked close to production-ready.
Sony emphasized safety as their top priority
as they developed mobility technology.
With over 40 sensors inside and out,
the Vision-S 02 concept could monitor safety,
as well as achieve up to level 2 self-driving operation.
Level 2 is a form of hands-off driving
where the driver keeps their hands on the wheel,
but only really intervenes in the case of a system failure.
While there are many cars on the road
currently with level 2 driving capability,
this is still quite a leap for a company like Sony,
which has never built a car before.
They're moving much faster than most people would expect.
Sony believes in their products,
and it seems others are excited to see
what they're capable of.
According to CEO, Kenichiro Yoshida, quote,
"The excitement we received really encouraged us
to further consider how we could bring creativity
and technology to change the experience
of moving from one place to another."
With the CES announcement,
Sony created a branch called Sony Mobility Incorporated,
which will be fully established in the spring of this year.
Sony Mobility was created
with the hopes to continue developing
and manufacturing electric cars
that consumers can eventually buy and drive.
This is Sony saying
that they're more than just thinking about making cars,
they're doing work and researching
whether it's actually possible.
One of the bigger questions that needs answering is
how would Sony build a car in the first place?
Manufacturing cars is a very expensive process.
The cost of factories themselves is enormous.
Back in 2015,
Toyota spent a billion dollars to build a factory in Mexico
for the Corolla sedan.
In November of 2021, Tesla announced their Gigafactory
in Austin, Texas cost at least 1.06 billion.
Even after you spend a billion on a factory,
you need to hire staff to run it,
which will cost even more.
When you're the two biggest auto makers in the world,
that kind of spending is reasonable.
But for a company like Sony,
it can be hard to justify an investment like that.
A more cost-effective solution for Sony
is to outsource the manufacturing to another company.
Enter Magna International.
Magna International is a Canadian
mobility technology company
and is North America's leading parts supplier.
With 154,000 employees, 347 manufacturing operations,
and 90 product development, engineering,
and sales centers in 28 countries,
they might be one of the biggest companies
most people don't know about.
With a long history producing parts for companies,
like GM, Ford, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota,
Tesla, and Tata Motors,
their products can be found on most vehicles
on the roads today.
To put it quite simply,
Sony knew that Magna were veterans of the auto industry
when they partnered with them to begin development
on the Vision-S back in 2018.
More specifically, Sony worked with Magna Steyr,
a contract manufacturer in Austria.
Magna Steyr is already producing cars for Toyota and BMW,
like the Supra and the Z4.
During the development process,
Magna and Sony learned a lot about each other,
since engineers from two different industries
were finally working together.
Magna had to reevaluate how explain things
to non-automotive people, what are the relevant processes,
and how to make the best documentation.
At the end of the process,
they found a lot of common ground
since both see themselves as mobility technology companies
committed to accelerating the future of transportation.
This partnership could be key for Sony
to be a legitimate player in the automotive industry,
because many other companies
don't have as smooth of a process
Sony is currently experiencing.
Whenever the production of Sony's EV actually starts,
Magna will most certainly build the cars,
while Sony develops the electronics,
allowing both companies to play to their strengths.
Sony knows they're the newcomer to the industry.
They know what it's like to break into a space
that they have no foothold in before,
but we'll get to that in a little bit.
Over the years, there have been many companies
that have tried and failed to enter the EV market.
Best known for its vacuums,
Dyson had invested $2.7 billion into their EV project
and had plans to build a factory in Singapore,
before terminating the venture.
Fisker produced and sold the Fisker Karma,
a luxury plug-in hybrid.
Shortly after launch, however,
two major battery recalls were issued for the car
due to a fire risk.
Eventually, they filed for bankruptcy in 2013.
They're back though under a different name.
The top Chinese EV company, NIO
initially looked like it was gonna gain some traction,
but began to take losses in 2019,
causing them to shut down their San Francisco office
and recall one of their vehicles.
Apple, who have been developing their iCar,
for what feels like forever,
met up with several automakers, including Hyundai, Nissan,
and even Ferrari to help manufacture it.
However, Apple wanted to challenge
the current processes of how a car's made,
like how the seats and the body were made.
Unfortunately, the traditional manufacturers
were not a fan of Apple's ideas
and the talks ended as a result.
Last year, they turned towards LG and Magna
for manufacturing support.
Whether Apple finally makes any progress
with its new partners won't be known until around 2024
or 2025.
While Sony has made two concepts
and has reported having 16 billion dollars cash on hand,
we can see that money is not the only factor
necessary to successfully get an EV off the ground.
Currently, Sony has a successful partnership
with an industry titan like Magna International,
and this might be the differentiating factor
that separates them from other failed startups.
Since they're only in the initial stages of the process,
Sony knows they're underdogs in the EV space.
However, Sony knows this is not the first time
they've been in this position before.
(upbeat rock music)
Back in the early nineties,
the industry leaders in gaming consoles were Nintendo
and Sega.
Sony was keen on entering the market,
and approached Nintendo to help create a new console.
As a CD rom add-on to the Super Nintendo,
it was going to be called the Nintendo PlayStation.
However, even after over 200 prototypes were built,
the system was never released
and Nintendo backed out of the partnership.
However, Nintendo didn't just back out of the deal with Sony
but negotiated a side deal
with Sony's lead competitor, Philips.
Obviously upset by the betrayal,
Sony took the technology they developed
for a CD-based video game console
and announced that they were developing the PlayStation
at the 1991 CES.
Then, in CES 1995,
Olaf Olafsson of Sony Electronic Publishing
explained the features of the new PlayStation,
and at the end of the speech,
saying that it would cost $299.
This undercut the Sega Saturn's price by a hundred dollars
and caught Sega with their pants down.
(upbeat rock music)
After the PlayStation was released in the United States
in 1995, it sold more consoles in two days
than the Saturn did in the previous five months.
the Saturn was shunned and several stores pulled the console
from their shelves due to the fact it was more difficult
to sell the more expensive console.
This was a devastating loss to Sega,
since they invested heavily into the Saturn's success.
Even Nintendo,
who released the Nintendo 64, was overshadowed
when Sony introduced the Final Fantasy franchise
to PlayStation, which further drove PlayStation sales.
This weakened Nintendo's market share
and pushed Sega even further out of the market.
It wasn't too long before the console wars
between Nintendo and Sega ended,
when they both realized they were facing a new rival
in Sony.
And as of 2021,
Sony is the biggest console manufacturer in the world.
Doubters can say whatever they want,
but the reality is,
is Sony not only has experience being an underdog
in a brand new industry,
but knows what it takes to come out on top.
Granted, cars are a little more complicated than consoles.
Presently, they've already built two concept cars
and have a manufacturing infrastructure in place.
While it is not impossible
for Sony to have the same fate as a company like Nikola
or the companies we mentioned earlier,
they have taken the proper steps
to have a chance at success.
With 16 billion of cash on hand,
and what looks like a strong partnership
with Magna International,
they have the potential to take over the EV space
the same way they took over the gaming industry
so many years ago.
Only time will tell how far they can go.
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- Thank you very much
for watching this episode of Wheelhouse.
If you wanna learn more about the Dyson car,
and the Apple car, and other tech company cars,
we actually did a video on that back in 2020.
I'll put a link down in the description.
For the record, I am biased.
I am a PlayStation guy.
Big shout out to Ratchet & Clank, Jak and Dexter,
and Sly Cooper and the gang.
Best games ever, dude.
Sony should make a Ratchet & Clank-themed EV.
I feel like that would work really well.
If they make like an off-roader,
maybe they can style it after some of the cars
from Jak X: Combat Racing.
Oh my God, Crash Team Racing.
Sony, just make some RC carts with all the Crash characters.
I would buy that.
All right, I'm gonna go play,
I'm gonna go play Sly Cooper now, see ya.