What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Sony and cars? Sound systems, stereo head units, that kind of thing, right? Alas, the electronic titans have entered the automotive fray, with a rather mysterious debutante: The Vision-S.
What happens in Vegas…
It started back in January 2020, before COVID-19 came in full force and forever distorted the cosmic balance. Sony first showed their concept off at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Jan 7th, alongside Hyundai’s flying air taxi, Mercedes’ Avatar-inspired deliciousness and BMW’s revolutionary car interior that takes design cues from La-Z-Boy.
After announcing it on the big stage, Sony went MIA in Austria and has now resurfaced half a year later with a teaser that reveals less than Kylie Jenner’s cow print swimsuit.
As you can see, the Sony’s Vision-S concept rolls out of the cargo van like a Backstreet Boys dance move. The word that comes to mind is: supercalafuturisticexpialadocious. It appears to be steering itself around, until it becomes immediately apparent that there’s a man behind the wheel.
The Vision-S takes a spin around the block, a group of people gather around it and marvel at some of the design specs, including the headlights. And that’s the extent of it. I’m docking points off the corny elevator music.
I guess Sony has actually listened to the people who think that film trailers have become far too revealing. Like, who else was pissed off at the Cast Away trailer, when they revealed Tom Hanks survived the island and made it home? Left little to the imagination, but we still enjoyed Hanks’ buddy-buddy routine with Wilson…
What on Earth is Sony up to?
What we do know about the Vision-S, so far, is that Sony is currently developing it for public road testing this year. Whether or not it will be made available for your everyday cruisin’ remains to be seen, but for the time being, the prototype is “intended to illustrate (Sony’s) future concepts in the area of mobility.”
A dual-engine (dual-motor?) system will power all 2400 kgs of this all-electric toy, breaking 100 km/h in just 4.8 seconds, allowing you to accelerate up until 240 km/h.
For such a heavy car, that’s not bad at all, but we do wonder if there’s any chance they can put this rod on a diet to shave off a few pounds before launch.
A Sony EV: Yay or nay?
For a long time now, Sony’s been looking for a way to branch out of sound systems. They obviously don’t want to be a one-hit-wonder like Los del Rio (heard of the Macarena?).
In 2014, they announced a new venture in the form of image sensors for autonomous vehicles. They never indicated that they’d actually be moving into full scale car production, but hey if you’re gonna top the XAV-AX1005DB Car stereo, might as well do it in style.
So whaddaya think? Yay or nay for the Vision-S?
#ICYMI here’s Mikaniki’s take on EVs.
