Sony opens first mall studio for its upcoming AFEELA EV, in Los Angeles - Related to drive, mall, 2025, ferrari, is

2025 Ferrari 12Cilindri Spider review: International quick drive

The end result is a more civilised V12, one that still has the capacity to stun, but one that also feels just a little neutered. Luckily for us, Ferrari’s engineers have gone to some lengths to ensure the sound inside the cabin remains true to the aural philosophy of a V12-powered Ferrari. Resonators pipe engine sound and exhaust notes directly into the cabin, and not in a synthesised digital way either. Instead, the sound you hear in the cabin is all natural, all V12.

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In-wheel motor maker Elaphe doesn't see issues with durability or unsprung mass.

Toyota is about to launch its next all-electric vehicle, and it already looks like an upgrade from its current lineup. With a “sleek and stylish desig......

Toyota’s new EV is almost here and it looks surprisingly stylish

Toyota is about to launch its next all-electric vehicle, and it already looks like an upgrade from its current lineup. With a “sleek and stylish design,” the new EV is part of Toyota’s plan to attract more buyers. Here’s our first look at what’s coming.

Toyota teases a new EV ahead of its debut in March.

Toyota dropped the first teaser on Tuesday for its “exciting and surprising” new EV, giving us a closer look at the upcoming model.

Toyota is looking to shake things up with this one. The teaser image reveals a crossover coupe-like profile with a sweeping hood line. In the video, you can see additional design elements like a rear lightbar across the back and Toyota’s new “hammerhead” front face styling, similar to the 2025 Camry.

Despite its compact look, Toyota indicates the new EV has “surprising space” and versatility, hinting at a crossover SUV.

The new model is likely the production version of the bZ Compact Crossover from 2022. It will join the bZ4X and new Urban Cruiser SUVs in Toyota’s European electric car lineup. Although no other details were revealed, it’s expected to sit between them.

Like the lately launched Urban Cruiser, the new electric crossover is expected to have a few different battery options, such as 49 and 61 kWh. It’s also likely to include a similar interior setup with dual [website]″ driver display and infotainment screens.

Toyota will officially unveil the new electric crossover on March 12. Next month, we will learn more information, including prices and specs.

For those in the US, the organization has yet to announce which markets the new EV will launch in. With Toyota’s new $14 billion EV battery plant in the US preparing to ship batteries in April, we remain hopeful. Local rumors also in recent times hinted at an electric RAV4 as Toyota moves away from the “bZ” naming system.

What do you think of Toyota’s new EV from the preview? Would you like to see it launch in the US, Canada, or other markets? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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Sony opens first mall studio for its upcoming AFEELA EV, in Los Angeles

The upcoming AFEELA EV, a joint effort between Sony and Honda, is now available for viewing to the public in Los Angeles, in advance of its scheduled California release in 2026.

We first heard about Sony’s upcoming EV back at CES 2020, where the organization introduced a surprise EV concept which, frankly, we never thought would happen.

Fast forward to now, and after a lot of developments and a partnership with Honda, Sony is now promising that the vehicle will be available next year – in California, at least. It not long ago started taking $200 reservations, though those are limited to California only for the time being.

In advance of this release, Sony Honda Mobility (SHM) is now showing the car to the public, in what has become a popular method for EV makers (ever since Tesla and George Blankenship pioneered it): opening a mall location.

That spot is right in the heart of where the AFEELA EV might be the most popular – Century City, a neighborhood of Los Angeles with a long history of attachment to the movie industry, at the Westfield Century City mall on Santa Monica Blvd.

The studio opened to the public this weekend, and will be open for the next six months (until August 1). The public can come around at any time and have a look at the vehicle and ask questions, or can book a demo of the car’s interior and technologies (but no test drives yet, though).

We previously had a chance to get hands on with the AFEELA prototype at the same mall, though that was at a temporary booth rather than a dedicated space. It was full of quite a few neat capabilities, but there was still a lot of work to be done.

As a reminder, SHM not long ago introduced a $89,900 base price for the AFEELA, though left the door open for additional subscription fees for some elements after an initial 3-year period. The first available trim level, the AFEELA 1 Signature, will start at $102,900.

So, if you’d like to check it out for yourself and are in Southern California, you can head on over any time, or book a time slot in advance for an in-car demonstration.

I’ve been impressed with the maturity of the pace of Sony’s announcements with this vehicle. While it seemed a little pie-in-the-sky originally when they revealed the concept, every year they’ve refined it and have mostly kept away from making unrealistic promises or crazy timelines, unlike some other EV startups out there.

That is, until last year, when they joined the AI buzzword bandwagon, which seemed like a total waste of time. Plus, the recent announcement of a $90k base price and additional suggestion of long-term subscription fees for feature use was not great to hear – but that hasn’t been finalized yet, so we’ll have to see exactly where things go from here.

There does still seem to be a lot of work to do over the course of the next year before the AFEELA’s “mid-2026” release, but things do thing to be progressing at a reasonable pace.

And, oddly enough, despite its late entry to the EV market, this is still going to be one of the first Japanese EVs available in the US. Toyota has the bZ4X (and the derivate Lexus RZ and Subaru Solterra), Nissan has the Leaf and Ariya, and Honda has the Prologue (and Acura ZDX) – which is made in partnership with GM. Meanwhile, a organization known for its consumer entertainment products is going to jump into the pack with the rest of its country’s auto industry – by building a ground-up EV before some of its countrymen did so.

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Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining Car......

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