Sony’s Afeela 1 Just Got the Wild Art-Car Treatment It Seriously Needed

After Honda and Acura stepped back from a few EV projects, Sony Honda Mobility went in a different direction. Instead of more tech talk, it showed an art car based on the Afeela 1, created with Hajime Sorayama.

The name is forgettable, but the car is not. It was revealed at a Tokyo exhibition of Sorayama’s work, and it leans fully into his style. The body is covered in a mirror-like chrome wrap that reflects everything around it. It feels less like a car you’d drive and more like something made to just stand there and be looked at.

Details are subtle but deliberate. Dark tinted glass, small Sorayama logos, soft blue lighting. The wheels stand out the most, with a shifting pattern that changes depending on how the light hits them. It is the kind of thing you notice only after standing next to the car for a while.

Sorayama said he wanted to bring a more human, almost analog touch to something that represents the future. That actually comes through. The Afeela itself is usually very clean and minimal. Here, it feels a bit more expressive, even slightly strange in a good way.

Nothing changes underneath, so this is not about performance. It is more about giving the car some identity. And honestly, that helps. The Afeela has always felt a bit neutral, and this at least gives people something to react to.

There is also a small merch angle. A limited-run t-shirt with layered prints of the car is being sold at the exhibition. It fits the whole art project vibe.

At the same time, SHM also showed another version of the car in Los Angeles, working with Matt Copson. That one uses reflective material, as you see on emergency vehicles, so it almost glows under light. It is a very different look, but the idea is the same.

None of this tells you how the car drives or how far it goes. But that is not really the point here. This feels more like SHM trying to make people notice the Afeela before it actually has to prove itself.