History of Honda
In October 1946, Soichiro Honda established the Honda Technical Research Institute in Hamamatsu, Japan, to develop and produce small 2-cycle motorbike engines. Two years later, Honda Motor Company, Ltd. was born, and in 1959 Honda opened its first storefront in Los Angeles with six industrious employees. This was the humble beginning of what is one of the leading automobile manufacturing companies in the world today.
Honda Motor Company, Ltd. in Japan and American Honda Motor Company, Inc. have succeeded in blending eastern and western attitudes and behavior to build a unique success story that began years ago in Japan and 11 years later in the United States. Honda was already the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer when it tackled the American market in 1959. Within five years, American Honda became the largest motorcycle distributor in the world.
Honda moved into truck and automobile sales in 1962. By then they controlled 65% of the Japanese motorcycle market. In 1963, Honda released its first car, the S500, in Japan, and in 1964, the company makes its debut in Formula One Auto racing. The automobile effort, spurred by the fuel crisis in the 1970s, found the American public willing to consider an economy car (the new Civic) that offered 40 mpg while drawing rave reviews from the magazines.
Read more about Honda car models