Honda Sony Mobility Might Flip Dealerships to Service Facilities

Sony and Honda are transferring ahead with their three way partnership to make EVs that can allegedly be bought within the U.S. by 2026, however not as Sony or Honda branded automobiles. The 2 firms are titans of their respective industries, however now that auto and tech have began to overlap, Sony and Honda plan to make use of their experience to carry EVs just like the Sony Imaginative and prescient-S idea to market. And no matter EV the three way partnership lastly comes up with will depend on Honda sellers for service regardless of not carrying a Honda badge, as Automotive Information experiences.

Oddly sufficient, the EVs that Sony Honda Mobility finally produces (or, if it produces any in any respect) is not going to put on a Honda badge — or Sony lettering, for that matter; it’s not like potential consumers of those EVs will be capable to carry their automobiles to Finest Purchase or the native large field. Despite the fact that EVs want much less upkeep than their ICE-equipped counterparts, electrical automobiles nonetheless require periodic service.

It is perhaps a bit unnerving to purchase a brand new EV from a brand new (untested) firm, so Honda says its joint-enterprise EVs will fall again on its intensive vendor community within the U.S. for service. The Japanese automaker has over 1,100 Honda sellers and 270 Acura sellers in America, which it hopes will put consumers relaxed. The transfer is an efficient technique, which might sidestep the difficulty of both firm refusing to lend their future EVs the model recognition that Sony and Honda carry. Certainly, it might put consumers relaxed and encourage them to offer the brand new EVs a shot.

However the determination is hardly placing sellers relaxed as a result of Sony and Honda should not committing to a legacy gross sales mannequin, and there are rumors that the EV firm will favor on-line gross sales. So, it’s doubtless sellers will present after-sales assist, in response to Automotive Information, however Sony Honda Mobility and Honda management is mum about sellers being concerned within the preliminary sale in any respect:

Talking on the firm’s monetary outcomes announcement Wednesday, [Honda] CFO Kohei Takeuchi stated the gross sales mannequin might be a very new one, echoing early discuss of a web-based strategy.

“Will probably be one thing unconventional, not Sony, not Honda, however one thing new,” he stated.

Takeuchi stated the gross sales and servicing plan continues to be beneath dialogue. However he added Honda has a community of greater than 1,000 U.S. sellers who’re properly located to service the brand new automobiles.

Honda is catching a little bit of flack for it, and its sellers are cautious the auto big will exclude them from EV gross sales beneath the brand new three way partnership. Sellers are reportedly going so far as accusing Honda of purposefully establishing a three way partnership with Sony to keep away from franchise agreements within the U.S., which (I gotta hand it to Honda) is a shrewd if unsavory transfer.

I imply, it’s exhausting to really feel dangerous for sellers — of no particular automotive model — who’ve these days been desirous to tack on charges and markups that appear unreasonable. In the long run, automotive consumers have confirmed that they’ll pay these markups whatever the price improve, so it’s not all on sellers. However, likewise, it’s not essentially all on automakers to cater to sellers because the business makes sweeping adjustments — each to combustion strategies and retail networks.

To be honest, Honda sellers are proper to be suspicious as a result of Honda has already stated that the age of EVs will kill off the mega dealership. Honda is beneath the impression dealerships will undergo a giant crunch after many years of enlargement. Many auto makers are dashing to catch as much as the direct gross sales mannequin that Tesla popularized; they’re afraid the rampant development of the previous few many years is lastly over. However, hey, service is the place it’s at (discuss labor prices) and no less than Honda says sellers will nonetheless be round for that.