Brand histories
The History of Honda
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Honda Motor Co., Ltd. is a world-class industrial company and one of the largest motorcycle and automobile manufacturers.
Soichiro Honda, the founder of the famous company, was born in 1906 into the family of a poor blacksmith who often repaired bicycles. Those first technical lessons shaped Honda's future passion for motorcycles and cars, and also served as the early technical education of a boy from a struggling family.
From 1922 to 1928, Honda diligently trained at an auto repair shop after moving to Tokyo. He then managed to set up his own repair shop in his hometown. Over his lifetime Honda received hundreds of patents for his inventions, the first of which was metal spokes for car wheels to replace wooden ones.
In 1938, Honda invented the piston ring, which made him famous around the world. This allowed him to open a company producing piston rings for Toyota, which was already well known at the time. Honda's factory stood through the entire Second World War, but the building was destroyed by an earthquake in 1945. The event plunged Honda into depression, and he left to work for another company.
Honda came into the powered two-wheeler market almost by accident. One day in 1946, he couldn't find any gasoline for his car. So he came up with the idea of fitting an ordinary bicycle with an engine that ran on kerosene, and the result was his first moped. Honda had a knack for elegant inventions made seemingly out of nothing. Seeing that his friends liked his new transport, in 1948 he founded Honda Motor to design and build mopeds.
Ten years later, Honda had outpaced his many competitors and become the most solid moped manufacturer in the Land of the Rising Sun. For example, the Super Cub came with a convenient step-through frame, and its whole design appealed to women and teenagers. The moped's ad campaign cost $5 million (in 1962), and it achieved its goal: buyers liked both the well-made machine itself and the fresh image of the rider that came with it. In the early 1950s Honda began building motorcycles, and 250 of its competitors around the world simply left the stage, just as the famous advertising slogan said: "You meet the nicest people on a Honda!"
By 1961, Honda was producing 100,000 motorcycles a month, and seven years later, in 1968, the one-millionth Honda motorcycle appeared in America. Honda was able to see his childhood dreams come true with his own eyes: by 1990, annual motorcycle output had reached three million units.
The time had come to conquer new horizons. In 1970 came the first Honda car to become a cult classic, the Honda Civic, whose ninth generation was released in 2012. Every new Honda model came with all sorts of technical innovations. Honda's rebellious character also showed in 1974, in the midst of Japan's crisis, when, unlike other manufacturers, he refused to cut car production or raise prices.
Defying the laws of economics, much like Henry Ford half a century earlier, Honda doubled car output and lowered prices. And he was right! Honda car sales rose by 76% and kept growing, to the bewilderment of competitors Nissan and Toyota.
Honda cars are widely regarded as some of the most reliable vehicles in the world, which also explains their steady sales growth. In 2007 alone, 3,912,000 of these remarkable cars were sold worldwide.
Soichiro Honda, the founder of the famous company, was born in 1906 into the family of a poor blacksmith who often repaired bicycles. Those first technical lessons shaped Honda's future passion for motorcycles and cars, and also served as the early technical education of a boy from a struggling family.
From 1922 to 1928, Honda diligently trained at an auto repair shop after moving to Tokyo. He then managed to set up his own repair shop in his hometown. Over his lifetime Honda received hundreds of patents for his inventions, the first of which was metal spokes for car wheels to replace wooden ones.
In 1938, Honda invented the piston ring, which made him famous around the world. This allowed him to open a company producing piston rings for Toyota, which was already well known at the time. Honda's factory stood through the entire Second World War, but the building was destroyed by an earthquake in 1945. The event plunged Honda into depression, and he left to work for another company.
Honda came into the powered two-wheeler market almost by accident. One day in 1946, he couldn't find any gasoline for his car. So he came up with the idea of fitting an ordinary bicycle with an engine that ran on kerosene, and the result was his first moped. Honda had a knack for elegant inventions made seemingly out of nothing. Seeing that his friends liked his new transport, in 1948 he founded Honda Motor to design and build mopeds.
Ten years later, Honda had outpaced his many competitors and become the most solid moped manufacturer in the Land of the Rising Sun. For example, the Super Cub came with a convenient step-through frame, and its whole design appealed to women and teenagers. The moped's ad campaign cost $5 million (in 1962), and it achieved its goal: buyers liked both the well-made machine itself and the fresh image of the rider that came with it. In the early 1950s Honda began building motorcycles, and 250 of its competitors around the world simply left the stage, just as the famous advertising slogan said: "You meet the nicest people on a Honda!"
By 1961, Honda was producing 100,000 motorcycles a month, and seven years later, in 1968, the one-millionth Honda motorcycle appeared in America. Honda was able to see his childhood dreams come true with his own eyes: by 1990, annual motorcycle output had reached three million units.
The time had come to conquer new horizons. In 1970 came the first Honda car to become a cult classic, the Honda Civic, whose ninth generation was released in 2012. Every new Honda model came with all sorts of technical innovations. Honda's rebellious character also showed in 1974, in the midst of Japan's crisis, when, unlike other manufacturers, he refused to cut car production or raise prices.
Defying the laws of economics, much like Henry Ford half a century earlier, Honda doubled car output and lowered prices. And he was right! Honda car sales rose by 76% and kept growing, to the bewilderment of competitors Nissan and Toyota.
Honda cars are widely regarded as some of the most reliable vehicles in the world, which also explains their steady sales growth. In 2007 alone, 3,912,000 of these remarkable cars were sold worldwide.
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