Honda
Honda was formed by Soichiro Honda, a self-taught engineer who eventually sold a piston design to Toyota – this started Honda on his path to establishing a major global car maker. Honda initially commenced production of motorcycles in the post-war era when the Japanese economy was in ruins and had to be rebuilt.
Soichiro Honda established Honda as a motorcycle manufacturer in post-war Japan – Honda was a self-taught engineer who sold a piston design to Toyota and established his first factory. An earthquake destroyed this factory so he managed to raise a further investment from shopkeepers around Japan – by 1963, Honda was the largest manufacturer of motorcycles in the world.
Honda is based in Japan with production facilities around the world and became the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles in 1963 and is now the 6th largest car maker in the world – it is also the world’s largest maker of engines. Honda has a reputation for excellence in engineering and is known for reliability of its vehicles with highly fuel-efficient engine designs – Honda is at the forefront of “green” engine design. The reputation of Honda as a fuel efficient designer of cars is underlined by the 1% increase in sales in 2008 when General Motors, Chrysler, Ford and Toyota have all posted declining sales.
Today, Honda is still based in Japan with production facilities around the globe and is the 6th largest car maker with a reputation for highly efficient engines – it is also the world’s largest manufacturer of engines. With a significant Research & Development spend of 5% of sales, Honda is at the forefront of “green” engine design and this is underlined by the 2008 sales of the company. In 2008, Honda experienced a 1% increase in sales volume with high gas prices and cost conscious consumers attracted to Honda cars – at the same time, Ford, Chrysler, General Motors and Toyota all experienced significant declines in their sales volumes.
