Sony Tests New Features, Looks At Possible Partners For Electric Vehicle At CES

One of the big items unveiled at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2021 was an electric vehicle concept from Sony Corp SNE. The company took the opportunity at the virtual CES 2021 to show off more details and videos about testing the car.

What Happened: The Vision-S from Sony still appears to be in the early stages for the EV market, according to Electrek.

Sony has started testing the EV on public roads near an engineering center in Graz, Austria. The vehicle features immersive audio, a software-oriented design and a 400kW dual-motor all-wheel drive. The car can go from 0 to 100km (62 MPH) in 4.8 seconds and reach top speeds of 240km/h (149 MPH).

The software-oriented design was the focus of two videos shown by Sony, which also showcases how Sony is leveraging its expertise in entertainment and software for the EV concept.

Related Link: 8 Stocks To Watch At CES 2021

Why It’s Important: The EV is still in the early stages with no details offered on pricing, battery or a production timeline.

The videos from Sony mention several partner companies. One to watch is Magna International Inc. MGA. Magna’s subsidiary Magna Steyr in Austria is working with Sony on the car, which was highlighted in the video. Magna has worked on vehicles such as the Mercedes-Benz G Class, BMW 5 Series and January I-Pace points out Arstechnica.

“I’m very happy to see that the Vision-S was just the starting point of our joint cooperation. We see that high-tech companies like Sony have a major impact on the mobility of the future,” said Magna Steyr President Frank Klein in the video.

Other partners for the Vision-S are Bosch, Continental, HERE, Nvidia Corporation NVDA, BlackBerry BB and Qualcomm Inc. QCOM.

There is an opportunity for EVs in Japan, according to Electrek. The article highlights that Sony has plenty of room to steal market share away from large Japanese automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp TM and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. HMC.