Sony decided to get serious about electric vehicles: the Vision-S 02 crossover is presented

Exactly two years after the introduction of the Vision-S electric model, Sony unveiled its sister 7-seater Vision-S 02 crossover at CES in Las Vegas and announced the creation of a subsidiary of Sony Mobility, through which it will explore the possibility of entering the electric vehicle market.

The two-year-old Sony Vision-S concept was developed in collaboration with the Austrian company Magna Steyr, which has its own platform for modular electric vehicles (in particular, the Fisker Ocean crossover is built on it): the car was thoughtfully designed and it seemed that it was ready for production, but after the premiere, Sony announced that it would not become an automaker for the time being, and everyone quickly forgot about the Vision-S. But in the summer of 2020, for some reason, Sony began road testing the Vision-S and periodically issued press releases about their progress, which unambiguously hinted at the development of an electric vehicle project and preparation for mass production.

Now, after the CES premiere of the Vision-S 02 crossover, there is no doubt anymore: Sony has said that it is seriously considering entering the electric car market. How long the “research” will take and when the final decision will be made is still unknown, so for now you can only look at the new concept, which, like the previous one, seems to be quite finished, that is, nothing in it could be launched into serial production.

With an overall length of 4895 mm, a width of 1930 mm, a height of 1650 mm and a wheelbase of 3030 mm, the Sony Vision-S 02 can be called a Tesla Model X competitor, while the technical characteristics are quite ordinary: two electric motors (one for each axle) produce a maximum of 200 kW (272 hp) each for a total of 544 hp Top speed is limited to 180 km/h. Suspension – on double wishbones “in a circle”, with pneumatic struts. Empty weight 2480 kg. Ground clearance is only 157 mm. Tire size 255/50 R 20 front and 275/45 R 20 rear. Battery capacity and power reserve are not named.

Inside the Sony crossover there can be from 4 to 7 seats, but the third row has a clearly childish look, that is, the landing formula would be more correctly called 5 + 2. The quadruple variant offers two single seats in the second row. Multi-screen front panel: Like the Vision-S liftback, the side displays act as rear-view mirrors. The equipment includes a level 2 autopilot and built-in lidar, high-quality 360 Reality Audio and the ability to remotely connect to the Sony PlayStation home game console in the cloud so that heavy games can be played on the screens of passengers in the second row. 5G connectivity is provided for smooth and fast gaming. It is not very clear why such difficulties are needed – it is easier to install a game console directly into the car, as Tesla does on the aforementioned Model X crossover.

Sony Vision-S 02 and Sony Vision-S

At the moment, Sony electric cars do not surprise with either design, equipment, or imagination features, and you should not expect dumping prices from a reputable company. Whether it is possible to enter the market with such a product, let the company's management decide, but in our opinion it will be difficult to achieve noticeable success in the market with such a product: there are too many competitors and defeat them, you must offer not the same thing, but something fundamentally new, revolutionary. Sony doesn't seem ready for the revolution yet.