Honda History

The
Honda Motor Company, Ltd. (Japanese: 本田技研工業株式会社, Hepburn: Honda Giken

Kōgyō KK, IPA: [honda] ( listen); /ˈhɒndə/) is a
Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power
equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959,[2][3] reaching a production of
400 million by the end of 2019,[4] as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion
engines measured by volume, producing more than 14 million internal combustion engines each
year.[5] Honda became the second-largest Japanese automobile manufacturer in 2001.[6][7] Honda was
the eighth largest automobile manufacturer in the world in 2015.[8]
Honda was the first Japanese automobile manufacturer to release a dedicated luxury brand, Acura,
in 1986. Aside from their core automobile and motorcycle businesses, Honda also manufactures
garden equipment, marine engines, personal watercraft and power generators, and other products.
Since 1986, Honda has been involved with artificial intelligence/robotics research and released
their ASIMO robot in 2000. They have also ventured into aerospace with the establishment of GE
Honda Aero Engines in 2004 and the Honda HA-420 HondaJet, which began production in 2012.
Honda has two joint-ventures in China: Dongfeng Honda and Guangqi Honda.
In 2013, Honda invested about 5.7% (US$6.8 billion) of its revenues in research and development.
[9]
Also in 2013, Honda became the first Japanese automaker to be a net exporter from the United
States, exporting 108,705 Honda and Acura models, while importing only 88,357.[10]
History
Honda's foray into four-wheelers started with the Honda T360 in 1963
Throughout his life, Honda's founder, Soichiro Honda, had an interest in automobiles. He worked as
a mechanic at the Art Shokai garage, where he tuned cars and entered them in races. In 1937, with
financing from his acquaintance Kato Shichirō, Honda founded Tōkai Seiki (Eastern Sea Precision
Machine Company) to make piston rings working out of the Art Shokai garage.[11] After initial failures,
Tōkai Seiki won a contract to supply piston rings to Toyota, but lost the contract due to the poor
quality of their products.[11] After attending engineering school without graduating, and visiting
factories around Japan to better understand Toyota's quality control processes known as "Five
whys", by 1941 Honda was able to mass-produce piston rings acceptable to Toyota, using an
automated process that could employ even unskilled wartime laborers.[11][12]:16–19
Tōkai Seiki was placed under the control of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (called the
Ministry of Munitions after 1943) at the start of World War II, and Soichiro Honda was demoted from
president to senior managing director after Toyota took a 40% stake in the company.[11] Honda also
aided the war effort by assisting other companies in automating the production of military aircraft
propellers.[11] The relationships Honda cultivated with personnel at Toyota, Nakajima Aircraft
Company and the Imperial Japanese Navy would be instrumental in the postwar period.[11] A US B-
29 bomber attack destroyed Tōkai Seiki's Yamashita plant in 1944, and the Itawa plant collapsed on
13 January 1945 Mikawa earthquake. Soichiro Honda sold the salvageable remains of the company
to Toyota after the war for ¥450,000 and used the proceeds to found the Honda Technical Research
Institute in October 1946.[11][13]
With a staff of 12 men working in a 16 m2 (170 sq ft) shack, they built and sold improvised motorized
bicycles, using a supply of 500 two-stroke 50 cc Tohatsu war surplus radio generator engines.[11]
[12]:19[14]
When the engines ran out, Honda began building their own copy of the Tohatsu engine, and
supplying these to customers to attach to their bicycles.[11][14] This was the Honda A-Type, nicknamed
the Bata Bata for the sound the engine made.[11] In 1949, the Honda Technical Research Institute
was liquidated for ¥1,000,000, or about US$5,000 today; these funds were used to incorporate
Honda Motor Co., Ltd.[12]:21 At about the same time Honda hired engineer Kihachiro Kawashima,
and Takeo Fujisawa who provided indispensable business and marketing expertise to complement
Soichiro Honda's technical bent.[12]:21 The close partnership between Soichiro Honda and Fujisawa
lasted until they stepped down together in October 1973.[12]:21

Honda History

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The

Honda Motor Company, Ltd. (Japanese: 本田技研工業株式会社, Hepburn: Honda Giken

Honda's foray into four-wheelers started with the Honda T360 in 1963

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