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Honda company history
Soichiro Honda began by manufacturing piston rings in November 1937. He quickly became a sub-contractor to Toyota, and then expanded into
other engine parts.
On September 24, 1948, Soichiro Honda took advantage of a gap in the Japanese market. 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 the
cheap and efficient transport that was required.
Honda quickly began to produce a range of scooters and motorcycles. 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 (noticeably increasing sticker 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 plants in Marysville, Anna, and East Liberty, as well as in Lincoln, Alabama (Honda Manufacturing of Alabama), and
Timmonsville, South Carolina, and plan to open a new plant in Tallapoosa, Georgia. Honda's North American headquarters are located in
Torrance, California.
Honda was also 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.
1989 saw a move that was set to revolutionalize the way carmakers tuned their engines. 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. The driver gets the best of both worlds; high
efficiency and high power on demand. Many automakers have introduced their own versions of variable valve timing. The technology is now
standard across the whole Honda range.
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, S2000, and Acura NSX, 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.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia article Honda.
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