The Power of Dreams
Honda
Tagline
Net Worth
$48,174,000,000
Started in (City)
Shizouka
Started in (Country)
Japan
Incorporation Date
24th December, 1948
Bankruptcy Date
-
Founders
- Soichiro Honda
- Takeo Fujisawa
About
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 three joint-ventures in China: Honda China, Dongfeng Honda, and Guangqi Honda.
Beginning
In October 2004, GE Honda Aero Engines LLC was established as a joint venture between Honda Aero, Inc. and General Electric Company(GE), the world’s largest jet engine manufacturer. (Shareholder structure: GE 50% Honda 50%)
Honda Motor Company, Ltd. is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment.
Honda has been the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a production of 400 million by the end of 2019, 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. Honda became the second-largest Japanese automobile manufacturer in 2001. Honda was the eighth largest automobile manufacturer in the world in 2015.
Road to Success
In 2013, Honda invested about 5.7% (US$6.8 billion) of its revenues in research and development. 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.
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. 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. After attending engineering school without graduating, and visiting factories around Japan to better understand Toyota’s quality control processes, by 1941 Honda was able to mass-produce piston rings acceptable to Toyota, using an automated process that could employ even unskilled wartime laborers.
Challenges
The journey started with its first model ’ Activa’ in 2001 which gave a new life to the scooter segment and stays strong as India’s favorite scooter even 20 years on. And today, Honda provides pure Joy of Riding to customers through its diverse portfolio of two-wheelers going up to 1800cc. From the trusted 110cc motorcycle for daily commuting to an array of scooters that merge the best of technology with convenience; from fun-to-ride dynamic sports models to iconic global legends for discerning enthusiasts… Honda is led by its challenging spirit to enrich the lives of its customers with innovative, technology-enriched two-wheelers.
Committed to Make in India, the first production facility at Manesar (Haryana) started operations in 2001. A decade later in 2011, Honda expanded to its 2nd plant at Tapukara (Dist. Alwar, Rajasthan) with 1.2 million units annual production capacity. In 2013, came the 3rd plant at Narasapura, in the Southern state of Karnataka; with a 1.8-million-unit annual capacity. Continuing to rapidly expand to meet customer demand, Honda 2Wheelers India started operations of its new 4th manufacturing facility – Honda’s scooter-only plant in Vithalapur (Gujarat) in FY’2015-16. This was followed by a new capacity infusion at its Karnataka plant in FY’2017-18, taking Honda 2Wheeler India’s combined capacity to 6.4 million units annually.
Failures
the Japanese government was gearing up for war! With the contract in hand, Soichiro Honda needed to build a factory to supply Toyota, but building materials were in short supply. Still, he would not quit! He invented a new concrete-making process that enabled him to build the factory.
With the factory now built, he was ready for production, but the factory was bombed twice and steel became unavailable, too. Was this the end of the road for Honda? No!
He started collecting surplus gasoline cans discarded by US fighters – “Gifts from President Truman,” he called them, which became the new raw materials for his rebuilt manufacturing process. Finally, an earthquake destroyed the factory.
After the war, an extreme gasoline shortage forced people to walk or use bicycles. Honda built a tiny engine and attached it to his bicycle. His neighbors wanted one, and although he tried, materials could not be found and he was unable to supply the demand.
Achievements
- First World GP Win, First Domination (1961)
- To the Domination of All World GP Classes (1962 - 1966)
Subsidies
- Acura
- Honda Canada
- Honda R&D
- Honda Motorcycle Thailand
- Altas Honda
CEOs
- Takahiro Hachigo
- Gaku Nakanishi