Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Friday, Jan. 10.
Among the big automotive stories at this year's CES in Las Vegas was the next chapter in the launch of Sony Honda Mobility and its unveiling of a near-production version of the $90,000 high-tech electric Afeela 1 sedan.
Carly Schaffner's story today says the EV will rely on Honda's vehicle design and be assembled at one of its factories in Ohio. Sony will supply software to support the artificial intelligence elements as well as entertainment properties.
A product such as this creates the kind of buzz you would expect from a world-class event like CES.
But Honda's dealership network isn't so excited. The Sony-Honda joint venture, as of now, plans to bypass Honda's U.S. dealerships and sell directly to customers. It's a similar strategy Volkswagen is using for its nascent Scout brand. Electric vehicle startups Tesla, Rivian and Lucid already have established direct-sales networks.
As expected, National Automobile Dealers Association CEO Mike Stanton said in a statement that the group is "disappointed" with the decision and that such a direction would put the EV in direct competition with the Honda and Acura dealership network.
"Honda should understand that any misguided attempt to bypass or undercut its U.S. dealers will be challenged in statehouses and courthouses across the country — with NADA's full support," Stanton said.
We don't know how well Sony Honda Mobility or the Scout brand will fare legally taking this route, but one thing is for sure: Many lawyers will make a lot of money on this litigation for many years.
For a full roundup of all the automotive activities at CES, check out the live blog that our team executed this past week.
In other news from shows, in case you missed it, the Detroit Auto Show started up today, and there was all of one breaking news story. The Honda Civic Hybrid, the Ford Ranger and the VW ID Buzz won the annual North American Car, Truck and Utility of the Year awards.
Meanwhile, as we close the books on our comprehensive coverage of December, fourth-quarter and 2024 U.S. auto sales, our Larry P. Vellequette broke out seven brands that generated their best U.S. sales results of all time. There are some surprises here. Click here to read the story.
Earlier today, we also published this overview of the 2024 results — highlighted by U.S. deliveries topping 16 million vehicles and posting the best year since the pandemic.
Following up on the improved U.S. sales results, we'll be highlighting a story on Saturday about Cox Automotive's latest Car Buyer Journey study. The study gauges the satisfaction levels of new-car buyers.
That's it for today. Have a great weekend.
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— Philip Nussel, online editor
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