Sony Group and Honda announced on April 4 that they have agreed in strategic tie -up in the mobility field.The two companies establish a joint venture in 2022, where they plan, develop and sell electric vehicles (EVs).EVs will be released from a new company in 25 years.

　Sony's chairman Kenichiro Yoshida and CEO, CEO, and Honda's president Toshihiro Mibumi announced at a joint press conference.Regarding the great aim of the partnership, CEO Yoshida said, "Sony needs to learn mobility as mobility is becoming mobile in the coming 10 years," and President the Third President says, "I can find new value in a partnership with different industries."I talked each.

Japan that is delayed by EV shift

　It is certain that the U.S. Apple will enter the automotive business and enter the market of EVs, and it is expected that Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry will be consigned to Apple Car, like the iPhone.Hon Hai and Nippon are partnered, and the company offers a motor.In addition, Tesla, which is ahead of the EV, has the momentum, with the market capitalization of the stock, greatly exceeding Toyota.

　In the world of next -generation mobility, the EV shift of Japanese automakers has left the world, as the coalition and competitions that exceed the industry.Looking at the sales volume, about 350,000 EVs sold in Germany, the same car power country, while only about 20,000 units were sold in Japan.

　However, this partnership between Sony and Honda may be one of the triggers that will bounce off the inferiority of the Japanese in the EV shift and hit the reversal offensive.Furthermore, the industrial structure of Japanese cars may be one major turning point that moves to horizontal division of labor.From this point of view, I would like to consider the significance of Sony and Honda alliance.

　Sony's promoted EVs and autonomous driving projects are called "Vision-S".He started public road examinations in Europe in December 2008.It was undecided whether it would be commercialized, but in January 2010, Yoshida CEO announced that he would enter the EV as a business in the household appliance and IT fair in Las Vegas, USA.

　Sony's officer is Managing Director Kawanishi, and is currently in charge of the robot business.Mr. Kawanishi has been involved in the home game console "Prestation 3" as a core engineer, and has been in charge of rebuilding a smartphone business, which was in the red.

Chart of car

　Last year, when I interviewed Mr. Kawanishi, he said, "Looking back on the past 10 years, the lifestyle has changed drastically with the appearance of Summer and phon, but given the next 10 years, a bigger change will occur. EV.The electrification of cars, including shifts, accelerates, so how to use Sony's technology such as image sensors. I started with the idea that there should be something that could be provided. "。

　Furthermore, Mr. Kawanishi emphasizes "car livability and entertainment."In particular, the idea of fusion of games and video content technology and cars, and "I want to increase the value of the time on the car."

　Indeed, Sony is trying to convert car smartphones.These movements are becoming a world trend.Last year, the Chinese emerging EV manufacturer, Saikobu, announced a new car that can make the inside of the car, and the introduction of a smart cabin with a dialogue -type AI around the driver's seat is increasing.

　Sony has found commonality in the robot business and the next -generation mobility business.For example, it moves (runs) while being independent and considering the surrounding environment.The idea of "snuggling with people" is also common.Robots include "functional value" due to hardware and software, and "sensitivity value" such as the comfort, texture, and surprise that users use it when using it, but the more personalized mobility is "sensitivity".Sony sees Sony that "value" is required.

"Chemical reaction" to Honda by working with Sony

　In addition to functional value such as communication, smartphones are products with high sensitivity value such as convenience, convenience, and interesting to use.In that sense, next -generation mobility will become a smartphone.

　Honda, on the other hand, announced that the three departments, who became president in April 2005, will switch all models to EVs by 2040.He changed his policy from a strategy centered on hybrid vehicles, and stated that he would not hesitate to Alliance.However, Honda, who has a great success in the past, was not very lean on EV shifts because the top was flute but did not dance.

　Mr. Sanbu said that he was a little frustrated, and last summer he cuts out Honda to work together with Sony about mobility in the future."I felt that as we held a workshop with both companies, we felt a chemical reaction and we could find new value," said Sanpo.

　In Sony, she is free to think of young people and work with Try and Error, which emphasizes speed.Honda, on the other hand, is not a system to leave, and his decision is slow.The Honda side seems to have been inspired by the Sony climate.As a result, the three departments wanted to stimulate the inside of Honda, which tends to live, and to create new value with next -generation mobility.

"Digital defeat" that Honda does not have

　In addition, Sony has an "experience" that Honda does not have.That is, knowing the "big losing battle".In the 2000s, Sony had a big defeat on television, mobile phones and personal computers in the main business.

　For example, television has won the world market alongside Panasonic, but the process of changing from a CRT tube to a thin type, that is, the business structure has changed from vertical integration to horizontal division labor.The added value of production has decreased.Similarly, mobile phones are the process of moving from folding or other garages to smartphones, and hegemony moved from Japanese to Apple and Samsung.

　Under such circumstances, Sony has recovered after a large -scale staffing of the major business in major businesses.Kawanishi said, "The center of the change in mobility is that the weight is moving from the machine called the engine to the software. It can make a great use of the experience of failure on TV and smartphones."

Strategic division of labor while learning

　Honda has not lost a lot in the main business, but depending on his perspective, it was not an increase in the company's crisis, and it could not be said that it was a constitution that could directly see changes in the world.The reason why Honda talked to Sony in this partners is probably because he realized that Honda would not survive unless he changed himself.

　If you compare steady manufacturing to "ground warfare", IT and financial businesses that overlook the eyes of live horses to "air battles", Sony is unusual in the Japanese manufacturing industry, "ground battle" and "aerial battle".I have it, but I don't have the technical skills to provide consumers with safe and secure mobility.In that regard, Honda is good at one, but it is weak in "aerial warfare".

　In the new company, Honda is mainly in charge of manufacturing, and Sony will be responsible for service platforms and software.The point is that during the transformation of technology and business models, the two companies will bring their strengths and respond, and the two companies will learn each other and proceed in strategic division of labor.

Dai Ibuka and Soichiro Honda

　These alliance also means that the development and production of automobiles that had been completed in Honda would end.In other words, it is a shift to a horizontal division of labor.Next -generation mobility, such as EVs and autonomous driving, is also known as the "Software Defhered Car", and the specific gravity of software is even higher.The initial model at the new company is planned by Honda, but the new company will eventually concentrate on the software area, and the manufacturing may be ordered from another company, which has a low cost other than Honda.

　In that case, the domestic automotive industry will also have a business model of "fabres (no production equipment)".Fabless is a symbolic product that is planned and developed by the company, but is outsourced to other companies, and the iPhone is a symbolic product produced by Apple and produced by Hon Hai and others.In terms of production, cars are converted to smartphones.

　He had a friendship between Dai Ibuka, one of the founders of Sony, and Honda's founder, Soichiro Honda, and learned each other.The two companies have become Japan's leading brands in the post -war Japanese economy.Mr. Sanbu described it as "both companies that synchronize historically and culturally."Again, it is important to return to the starting point and learn each other.The success or failure of the two companies has attracted worldwide attention, and may be one of the test stones for whether the Japanese industry can confront the transformation period.