Honda
(, ), is a
Japanese
manufacturer of
automobiles,
trucks,
motorcycles,
scooters and
robots. However, as the name of the company in Japanese suggests, the company is often described as an engineering or engine company rather than a car company. Honda makes
ATVs, water craft,
electrical generators, marine engines, lawn and garden equipment, and aeronautical and other mobile technologies. Honda's high-end line of cars are branded
Acura in
North America.
With more than 14
million internal combustion engines built each year, Honda is the largest engine-maker in the world. In
2004, the company began to produce
diesel motors, which were both very quiet whilst not requiring particulate filters to pass pollution standards. It is arguable, however, that the foundation of Honda's success is the motorcycle division.
Honda is headquartered in
Tokyo. Their shares trade on the
Tokyo Stock Exchange, the
New York Stock Exchange, as well as exchanges in
Osaka,
Nagoya,
Sapporo,
Kyoto,
Fukuoka,
London,
Paris and
Switzerland. American Honda Motor Co., is based in
Torrance, California. Honda Canada Inc. is headquartered in the
Scarborough area of
Toronto, Ontario, and is building new corporate headquarters in
Richmond Hill, Ontario, scheduled to relocate in 2008. Honda of Canada Manufacturing is based in
Alliston, Ontario.
 |
The 1832cc Honda Rune motorcycle |
In
September 24,
1948 the Honda Motor Co. was founded. Soichiro Honda took advantage of a gap in the Japanese market that was decimated by
World War II, Japan was starved of money and fuel, but still in need of basic
transport. Honda, utilizing his manufacturing facilities, attached an engine to a bicycle, creating a cheap and efficient transport.
The Honda piston manufacturing facilities were almost completely destroyed. Soichiro Honda created a new company with what he had left, giving it the name "Honda Giken Kōgyō Kabushiki Kaisha" which translates to "Honda Research Institute Co. Ltd." Despite its grandiose name, the first facility bearing that name was a simple wooden shack where Mr. Honda and associates would fit engines to bicycles. Interestingly, the official Japanese name for Honda Motor Co. Ltd. remains the same, in honor of Soichiro Honda's efforts. in
1958 the American Honda Co. was founded.
Honda began to produce a range of scooters and motorcycles and Soichiro Honda quickly recovered from the losses incurred during the war. By the late
1960s, Honda had conquered most world markets. The
British were especially slow to respond to the Honda introduction of
electric starters to motorcycles. By the
1970s, Honda was the largest producer of motorcycles in the world, a title it has never relinquished.
Honda began producing road cars in
1960, mostly intended for the Japanese market. Though participating in international
motorsport (see
Racing), Honda was having difficulty selling its automobiles in the
United States. Built for Japanese buyers, Honda's small cars had failed to gain the interest of American buyers.
Honda finally established a foothold in the American market in
1972 with the introduction of the
Civic—larger than their previous models, but still small compared to the typical American car—just as the
1970s energy crisis was impacting worldwide economies. New emissions laws in the US, requiring American car makers to affix expensive
catalytic converters to exhaust systems, increased car prices. However, Honda's introduction of the 1975 Civic
CVCC, CVCC being a variation on the
stratified charge engine, allowed the Civic to pass emissions tests without a catalytic converter.
In
1976, the
Accord was immediately popular because of its economy and fun-to-drive nature; Honda had found its niche in the United States. In
1982, Honda was the first Japanese car manufacturer to build
car plants in the US, starting with an Accord plant in
Marysville, Ohio. They now have four plants located in Ohio: 2 in
Marysville (the Marysville Auto Plant and the Marysville Motorcycle Plant),
Anna, and
East Liberty. They also have plants in
Lincoln,
Alabama (
Honda Manufacturing of Alabama), and
Timmonsville,
South Carolina, and have recently (2006) opened a new plant in
Tallapoosa,
Georgia. Honda also has an extensive after market parts operation located in Marysville, Ohio, and a Research and Development facility in Raymond, Ohio. Honda's North American and U.S. headquarters are located in
Torrance, California. Honda's Canadian and many US-market Civics are manufactured in their plant in
Alliston, Ontario since
1985. On
June 27,
2006, Honda announced that another manufacturing facility will be opening in North America, this time in
Greensburg,
Indiana. Its completion is expected in 2008.
Honda was the first Japanese automaker to introduce a separate luxury line of vehicles. Created in 1986 and known as
Acura, the line is made up of modified versions of Honda vehicles usually with more power and sportiness than their Honda counterparts.
In
1989 Honda launched their
VTEC variable valve timing system in its production car engines, which gave improved efficiency and performance across a broader range of engine speeds. One of the first of its kind in passenger vehicles, it worked on the premise of tuning one engine to operate at two different 'settings' depending on load. Normal driving would use a "shorter" cam lobe that resulted in more efficient operation. A more aggressive, longer duration, cam engages when engine RPM reaches a set point resulting in more power during hard acceleration.
For the
2007 model year, Honda plans to improve the safety of its vehicles by providing front-seat side
airbags, side-curtain airbags, and
anti-lock brakes as standard equipment in all automobiles available in North America (except the
Insight and
S2000, which will not have side-curtain airbags). By
2006, Honda plans to have as standard equipment Vehicle Safety Assist and rollover sensors in all light trucks, including the
CR-V,
Odyssey, and
Acura MDX. Honda also plans to make its vehicles safer for pedestrians, with more safely-designed hoods, hinges, frame constructs, and breakaway wiper pivots.
Motorcycle
Soichiro Honda, being a race driver himself, could not stay out of international
motorsport. In
1959, Honda entered five motorcycles into the
Isle of Man TT race, the most prestigious motorcycle race in the world. While always having good power, it took until
1961 for Honda to tune their chassis well enough to allow
Mike Hailwood to claim their first
Grand Prix victories in the 125 and 250
cc classes. Hailwood would later pick up their first senior TT wins in
1966 and
1967. Honda's race bikes were known for their exotic engine configurations such as the 5 cylinder, 22,000 rpm, 125cc bike and their 6 cylinder 250cc and 380cc bikes.
1981 saw Honda return to
Grand Prix motorcycle racing with their exotic,
monocoque-framed,
four-stroke NR500. The NR500 featured oval-shaped cylinders in an attempt to circumvent the
FIM rules which limited engines to four cylinders. Honda engineered the oval cylinders in an effort to provide the valve area of an 8 cylinder engine, hoping their four-stroke bike would be able to compete against the now dominant
two-stroke racers. Unfortunately, it seemed Honda tried to accomplish too much at one time and the experiment failed. For the 1982 season, Honda debuted their first two stroke race bike, the NS500 and in
1983, Honda won their first 500cc
Grand Prix World Championship with
Freddie Spencer. Since then, Honda has become the dominant marque in motorcycle Grand Prix racing.
Honda riders have also claimed 24
Motocross World Championships.
Automobile
See also Honda F1In
1963, Honda entered
Formula One as a constructor, competing for the first time in
1964 at the
German Grand Prix with
Ronnie Bucknum at the wheel.
1965 saw the addition of
Richie Ginther to the team, who scored Honda's first point at the
Belgian Grand Prix, and Honda's first win at the
Mexican Grand Prix.
1967 saw their next win at the
Italian Grand Prix with
John Surtees as their driver. In
1968,
Jo Schlesser was killed in a Honda RA302 at the
French Grand Prix. This racing tragedy, coupled with their commercial difficulties selling automobiles in the
United States, prompted Honda to withdraw from all international motorsport that year.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Honda powered cars won six consecutive
Formula One Constructors Championships.
WilliamsF1 won the crown in
1986 and
1987. Team
McLaren won the title in
1988,
1989,
1990 and
1991.
In
2003, Honda became an engine supplier to the
Indy Racing League. In 2004, Honda-powered cars overwhelmingly dominated IRL, winning 14 of 16 IRL events, including the Indianapolis 500, and claimed the IRL Manufacturers' Championship, Drivers' Championship and Rookie of the Year titles. In 2006, Honda became the sole engine supplier for the IRL, including the
Indianapolis 500. In the
2006 Indianapolis 500, for the first time in Indianapolis 500 history, the race was run without a single engine problem [
1].
Also in 2006 Honda made a triumphant return to
Formula One as a constructor, winning the Hungarian Grand Prix with driver
Jenson Button.
During the 1960s, when it was a small manufacturer, Honda broke out of the Japanese motorcycle
market and began exporting to the US. Taking Honda's story as an archetype of the smaller manufacturer entering a new market already occupied by highly dominant competitors, the story of their market entry, and their subsequent huge success in the US and around the world, has been the subject of some academic controversy. Competing explanations have been advanced to explain Honda's strategy and the reasons for their success.
The first of these explanations was put forward when, in 1975,
Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was commissioned by the
UK government to write a report explaining why and how the British motorcycle industry had been out-competed by its Japanese competitors. The report concluded that the Japanese firms, including Honda, had sought a very high scale of production (they had made a large number of motorbikes) in order to benefit from
economies of scale and
learning curve effects. It blamed the decline of the British motorcycle industry on the failure of British managers to invest enough in their businesses to profit from economies of scale and
scope.
The second story is told in
1984 by
Richard Pascale, who had interviewed the Honda executives responsible for the firm's entry into the US market. As opposed to the tightly focused strategy of low cost and high scale that BCG accredited to Honda, Pascale found that their entry into the US market was a story of "miscalculation, serendipity, and organizational learning" – in other words, Honda's success was due to the adaptability (and hard work) of its staff, rather than any long term strategy. For example, Honda's initial plan on entering the US was to compete in large motorcycles, around 300cc. It was only when the team found that the scooters they were using to get themselves around their US base of
San Francisco attracted positive interest from consumers that they came up with the idea of selling the
Supercub.
The most recent school of thought on Honda's strategy was put forward by
Gary Hamel and
C. K. Prahalad in
1989. Creating the concept of
core competencies with Honda as an example, they argued that Honda's success was due to its focus on leadership in the technology of internal combustion engines. For example, the high power-to-weight ratio engines Honda produced for its racing bikes provided technology and expertise which was transferable into mopeds.
Honda's entry into the US motorcycle market during the 1960s is used as a
case study for teaching introductory strategy at
business schools worldwide.
Its first entrance into the pickup segment, the lightduty
Ridgeline, won Truck of the Year, completing a "one-two" combination, as its redesigned Civic also won Car of the Year. Part of its warm reception from the industry stems from its innovation in offering all wheel independent suspension, the first for a pick up truck. With a unibody design that boasts 20x the rigidity of a traditional construction framework, it provides solid handling and a controlled car-like feel even while hauling a load.
Although a relatively small manufacturer in terms of vehicle sales, Honda is the largest engine maker in the world. Honda has a number of firsts in many categories, including first motorcycle equipped with an airbag, as well as the first pick-up truck with independent rear suspension (2006
Ridgeline).
The 2006
Ridgeline is one of the first Uni-Body trucks produced (after the early 1980s Volkswagen Rabbit pick-up).
Honda has also pioneered new technology in its
HA-420 HondaJet that allows new levels of reduced drag, increased aerodynamics and fuel efficiency thus reducing operating costs.
Honda's robot
ASIMO (see below) as an R&D project brings together expertise to create a robot that walks, dances and navigates steps.
Honda's official slogan is
The Power of Dreams.
In 2003, Honda released its
Cogadvertisement in the
UK and on the
Internet. To make the ad, the engineers at Honda constructed a
Rube Goldberg Machine made entirely out of car parts from the Honda Accord. To the despair of the engineers at Honda, all the parts were taken from 2 of only 6 hand assembled preproduction models of the Accord. The ad depicted a single cog which sets off a chain of events that ends with the Honda Accord moving and
Garrison Keillor speaking the tagline, "Isn't it nice when things just... work?" It took 606 takes to get it perfect.
In 2004, they produced the
Hate Something advert, which is still shown on British television now, usually immediately followed by a shortened version of the 2005/2006
Impossible Dream advert.
In 2006, Honda released its
Choir advertisement, for the UK and the internet. This featured a 60-person choir who sang the car noises as film of the Honda Civic are shown.
ASIMO is the part of Honda's
Research & Development robotics program. It is the eleventh in a line of successive builts, starting in 1986 with
Honda E0 moving through the ensuing
Honda E series and the
Honda P series. Weighing 54
kilograms, ASIMO resembles a small
astronaut wearing a backpack, and can walk on
two feet in a manner resembling human
locomotion, at up to 6 km/h.
*
Official website*
List of Honda vehicles*
List of Honda motorcycles*
List of Honda engines*
List of Honda Engine Throttle Body Sizes*
List of Honda transmissions*
Acura*
VTEC*
Honda Type R*
Honda Automotive VIN codes*
Mondial*
Dongfeng Honda Automobile Company - joint venture
*
Honda Automobile (China) Company - importer of cars into China
*
Honda Canada Inc.*
Honda "Cog" commercial*
EPA 2004 Fuel Economy Report (Honda)*
Honda Global site**
Honda USA**
Honda Canada**
Honda Cars, India**
Honda Two Wheelers, India**
Honda Atlas Cars - Pakistan**
Honda Atlas Motorcycles - Pakistan**
Honda UK**
Honda Australia**
Honda Press Library (Japanese, but with graphical timelines of car and bike models)
*
Honda Civic Related News and Articles*
Honda Formula One Team Site* "Move Over, Volvo: Honda Sets New Safety Standard for Itself", an article in the "News" section of the March,
2004 issue of
Motor Trend, on
page 32
*
2004 Annual Corporate Report* The story of Honda's entry and growth in the American market is documented in
Terry Sanders' film
The Japan Project: Made in Japan.
