The iconic technology company Sony revealed its latest concept electric car recently at the CES show. It is called the Vision-S concept, you may have been thinking that this was simply a PR exercise for the newest version of the Sony Playstation; Unlikely. Sony is trying to penetrate the electric car industry, a bravery that was mirrored by Tesla and Dyson, two companies that, in fact, have nothing to do with the automotive industry but jumped into the electric car world. Also, I have to acknowledge the secret electric car projects being undertaken by both Google and Apple, which likely evoked Sony to dip its toes.
Regrettably, however, Sony does not have the same glamour as in the 1990s and even then, the brand was favoured for its small appliances and tech such as televisions, HiFi systems, video recorders, camcorders, walkmans, Discmans and many more. The tech world has changed dramatically however, and we now no longer require all of these separate gadgets. During this transition, Sony was unable to refresh its product line and its image and so it performed well with its Playstation, and has remained the exclusive manufacturer of camera sensors for iPhones and several other smartphones. Sony could not, however, win the battle with Samsung and Apple to take physical space in our daily lives.
The Vision-S concept is a bold move from Sony in creating a product that will be part of our daily lives. Sadly, manufacturing a car is not easy, it necessitates a large infrastructure to keep the cars running. In addition, the electric car market has still not been targeted by the manufacturing giants who can produce electric cars on a mass scale, globally. Also, they can more easily offer their existing infrastructure for the after-sales.
It is undeniably a courageous transition for Sony to enter the automotive industry, particularly when reflecting upon the fact that only two decades ago, the sound system company Bose created a suspension system but failed to successfully transform it into mass production. It will consequently be interesting to see what will happen with the Sony Vision-S.
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Photo Credit // SONY