Automobiles Honda's automotive manufacturing ambitions can be traced back to 1963, with the
Honda T360, a
Kei truck built for the Japanese market. This was followed by the two-door
roadster, the
Honda S500 also introduced in 1963. In 1965, Honda built a two-door commercial delivery van, named the
Honda L700. Honda's first four-door sedan was not the
Honda Accord, but the air-cooled, four-cylinder, gasoline-powered
Honda 1300 which was introduced in 1969. The Civic was a hatchback that gained wide popularity internationally, but it wasn't the first two-door hatchback built by Honda. That was the
Honda N360, a
Kei car that was adapted for international sale as the N600. The Civic, which appeared in 1972 and replaced the N600 also had a smaller sibling that replaced the air-cooled N360, called the
Honda Life, which was water-cooled. The Honda Life represented Honda's efforts in competing in the
kei car segment, offering sedan, delivery van and small pick-up platforms on a shared chassis. The
Life Step Van had a novel approach that, while not initially a commercial success, appeared to be an influence to vehicles with the front passengers sitting behind the engine, a large cargo area with a flat roof and a liftgate installed in back, and utilizing a transversely installed engine with a front-wheel-drive powertrain. As Honda entered into automobile manufacturing in the late 1960s where Japanese manufacturers such as Toyota and Nissan had been making cars since before WWII, Honda instilled a sense of doing things a little differently than its Japanese competitors. Its mainstay products like the Accord and Civic (with the exception of its USA-market 1993–97 Passport which was part of a vehicle exchange program with Isuzu (part of the Subaru-Isuzu joint venture)) have always employed
Front-wheel drive powertrain implementation, which is currently a long-held Honda tradition. Honda also installed new technologies into its products, first as optional equipment, then later standard, like
anti-lock brakes,
speed-sensitive power steering, and
multi-port fuel injection in the early 1980s. This desire to be the first to try new approaches is evident with the creation of the first Japanese luxury chain
Acura, and was also evident with the all-aluminum, mid-engined sports car, the
Honda NSX, which also introduced
variable valve timing technology, which Honda calls
VTEC. The Civic family is a line of
compact cars developed and manufactured by Honda. In North America, the Civic is the second-longest continuously running nameplate from a Japanese manufacturer; only its perennial rival, the
Toyota Corolla, introduced in 1966, has been in production longer. The Civic, along with the Accord and
Prelude, comprised Honda's vehicles sold in North America until the 1990s, when the model lineup was expanded. Having gone through several generational changes, the Civic has become larger and more
upmarket, and it currently slots between the
Fit and Accord. Honda's first
hybrid electric vehicle was the 1999
Insight. The Civic was first offered as a hybrid in 2001, and the Accord followed in 2004. In 2008, the company launched the
Clarity, a
fuel cell car. In 2008, Honda increased global production to meet the demand for small cars and
hybrids in the US and emerging markets. The company shuffled US production to keep factories busy and boost car output while building fewer
minivans and
sport utility vehicles as
light truck sales fell. Its first entrance into the pickup segment, the light-duty Ridgeline, won Truck of the Year from
Motor Trend magazine in 2006. Also in 2006, the redesigned Civic won
Car of the Year from the magazine, giving Honda a rare double win of Motor Trend honors. It is reported that Honda plans to increase hybrid sales in Japan to more than 20% of its total sales in the fiscal year 2011, from 14.8% in the previous year. Five of
United States Environmental Protection Agency's top ten most fuel-efficient cars from 1984 to 2010 come from Honda, more than any other automakers. The five models are: 2000–2006 Honda Insight ( combined), 1986–1987 Honda Civic Coupe HF ( combined), 1994–1995 Honda Civic hatchback VX ( combined), 2006– Honda Civic Hybrid ( combined), and 2010– Honda Insight ( combined). The
ACEEE has also rated the
Civic GX as the greenest car in America for seven consecutive years. Honda currently builds vehicles in factories located in Japan, the United States of America, Canada, China, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Belgium, Brazil, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Turkey, Argentina, Mexico, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
Motorcycles , Birmingham, Alabama. The two-stroke single-cylinder motorcycle had a displacement of 58 cc and a top speed of . bike Honda is the largest motorcycle manufacturer in Japan and has been since it started production in 1955. In India, Honda is leading in the scooters segment, with 59% market share. During the 1960s when it was a small manufacturer, Honda broke out of the Japanese motorcycle market and began exporting to the United States. Working with the advertising agency
Grey Advertising, Honda created an innovative marketing campaign, using the slogan "
You meet the nicest people on a Honda." In contrast to the prevailing negative stereotypes of motorcyclists in America as tough, antisocial rebels, this campaign suggested that Honda motorcycles were made for the everyman. The campaign was hugely successful; the ads ran for three years, and by the end of 1963 alone, Honda had sold 90,000 motorcycles. The first of these explanations was put forward when, in 1975, the
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 explanation was offered 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 its 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 market was to compete in large motorcycles, around 300 cc. Honda's motorcycles in this class suffered performance and reliability problems when ridden the relatively long distances of the US highways. 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.
ATVs Honda builds utility
ATVs under models Recon, Rubicon, Rancher, Foreman and Rincon. Honda also builds sports ATVs under the models TRX 90X, TRX 250X, TRX 400x, TRX 450R and TRX 700.
Power equipment Power equipment production started in 1953 with H-type engine (prior to motorcycles). Honda power equipment reached record sales in 2007 with 6.4 million units sold annually. By 2010 (
Fiscal year ended 31 March) this figure had decreased to 4.7 million units. Cumulative production of power products has exceeded 85 million units annually (as of September 2008). In September 2023, Honda ceased sales of gasoline lawn mowers and some other power equipment in the US. Honda power equipment includes:
Engines s Honda engines powered the entire 33-car starting field of the
2010 Indianapolis 500 and for the fifth consecutive race, there were no engine-related retirements during the running of the Memorial Day Classic. In the 1980s Honda developed the
GY6 engine for use in motor scooters. Although no longer manufactured by Honda, it's still commonly used in many Chinese, Korean and Taiwanese light vehicles. Honda, despite being known as an engine company, has never built a
V8 engine for passenger vehicles. In the late 1990s, the company resisted considerable pressure from its American dealers for a V8 engine (which would have seen use in top-of-the-line Honda SUVs and
Acuras), with American Honda reportedly sending one dealer a shipment of
V8 beverages to silence them. Honda considered starting V8 production in the mid-2000s for larger Acura sedans, a new version of the high-end NSX sports car (which previously used DOHC V6 engines with VTEC to achieve its high power output) and possible future ventures into the American full-size truck and SUV segment for both the Acura and Honda brands, but this was canceled in late 2008, with Honda citing environmental and worldwide economic conditions as reasons for the termination of this project.
Robots at
Expo 2005 ASIMO is part of Honda's Research & Development robotics program. It's the eleventh in a line of successive builds starting in 1986 with
Honda E0 moving through the ensuing
Honda E series and the
Honda P series. Weighing 54 kilograms and standing 130 centimeters tall, ASIMO resembles a small
astronaut wearing a backpack, and can walk on
two feet in a manner resembling human
locomotion, at up to . ASIMO is the world's only humanoid robot able to ascend and descend stairs independently. However, human motions such as climbing stairs are difficult to mimic with a machine, which ASIMO has demonstrated by taking two plunges off a staircase. ASIMO is able to walk, dance and navigate steps. In 2010, Honda developed a machine capable of reading a user's brainwaves to move ASIMO. The system uses a helmet covered with
electroencephalography and
near-infrared spectroscopy sensors that monitor electrical brainwaves and cerebral blood flow signals that alter slightly during the human thought process. The user thinks of one of the limited number of gestures it wants from the robot, which has been fitted with a Brain-Machine Interface.
Aircraft Honda has also pioneered new technology in its
HA-420 HondaJet, manufactured by its subsidiary
Honda Aircraft Company, which allows new levels of reduced drag, increased aerodynamics and fuel efficiency thus reducing operating costs.
Mountain bikes Honda has also built a
downhill racing bicycle known as the Honda RN-01. It is not available for sale to the public. The bike has a
gearbox, which replaces the standard
derailleur found on most bikes. Honda has hired several people to pilot the bike, among them
Greg Minnaar. The team is known as Team G Cross Honda.
Rockets In 2019, Honda began development of
rocket engines. In June 2025, Honda successfully conducted a launch and landing test of an
reusable launch vehicle in
Taiki, Hokkaido. Honda has stated that it aims to make a
sub-orbital spaceflight in 2029. ==Former products==