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Honda Car Company The Honda company was a little different in its beginnings than most other car companies. It all started as the dream of one mechanic called Soichiro Honda who had developed his own design for piston rings in 1938. He attempted to sell the idea to Toyota, who, contrary to popular belief, did not turn him down. It was Soirchiros timing that let him down. He had begun constructing a new facility that would supply Toyota with his invention but soon after the Second World War, the Honda piston manufacturing facilities were all but destroyed. This turn of events was what prompted Honda to create a new company with hat was left in the Japanese market after the decimation left after the war. Although the country was starved of money and basic fuel, it was still in desperate need of transport. The manufacturing facilities procured by Honda before the war was put to good use by him. A simple idea of attaching an engine to a bicycle was going to be the making of the company. By October 1946, his small factory in Hamamatsu was making entire makeshift motorcycles, using cycle frames he owned. Due to the gasoline shortage across the country, Honda had to adapt his motorcycles to run on turpentine. He developed this type of fuel on his own by distilling it from pine trees. This was not an ideal situation however, as the motorbikes would take a lot of energy-consuming pedaling before the engine would warm up. The bikes were successful and business began to boom so it wasn't long before his surplus engine supplies and bike frames ran out. This was the time he decided to begin building his own motors; his first was a 50cc engine and from that he moved onto building whole motorbikes. The stench of the turpentine and the smoke the engines produced earned Hondas first model the nickname ‘Chimney'. The Honda Motor Company was officially started up in 1948 after Honda teamed up with financial guru Takeo Fujiisawa. The days of the Honda Empire had started. The first vehicle launched under the new company name was the 1948 90cc version of a previous model, named the A-type. Appropriately, the newer version was given the name B-type. The development of motorized bikes continued until a breakthrough in 1949, when Honda produced the D-type ‘The Dream', so called because his idea of building a complete motorbike was his dream, and it had come true. This wasn't just an engine strapped onto a frame, this was a fully integrated motorcycle which could reach speeds of up to 50 mph, had a full steel frame and proper suspension both in the front and the rear. By 1951, over 130 units of these were built every day, such was the demand. The demand and the development of motorbikes have continued in this trend until today. Honda were the first company to come up with a bike design in 1968 that would inspire the term ‘super bike', a word that has become ever more familiar today. Their bikes have sold all over the world; they were the first Japanese bike manufacturer to be officially unveiled in Europe, and they are credited for getting America on two wheels too. The Honda racing history is something to be admired. Honda was always into racing and during his time they had racked up over 100 major motorcycle championships from around the world. It was his learning from these racing machines that gave him the knowledge and inspiration to develop ground-breaking production motorcycles. His expertise went further however, after noticing that the potential market for motorbikes was a lot wider than companies were realising. Honda came up with possible the most ground-breaking and clever advertising campaign. The simple statement “You meet the nicest people on a Honda"£ changed consumers minds that motorbikes were only for hairy, smelly bikers. Almost overnight, general attitudes to motorbikes and the people that rode them changed irrevocably. Eventually, Honda moved into automobile manufacture, producing prototypes in the early 1960's mainly with the Japanese market in mind. The first car to make it off the production line was the 1963 T360. It was a tiny pick-up truck which featured 4 different body styles, including a traditional truck bed and a panel van. The first Honda production automobile followed soon after, the S500 was a two door roadster with a four-speed transmission. At the time of development, all the other car manufacturers in Japan were associated with business conglomerates. They received financial help from the government if they managed to absorb smaller car companies into the larger brands, making them more marketable internationally. It was unheard of for a small independent company to thrive so well in these markets without government assistance, thus ensuring that Honda's success would be historical in the Japanese economy. Honda's foothold on America didn't happen until 1970, with the introduction of the Civic. Previous attempts to crack the Stateside market had failed due to the Americans love of fast, big cars. Hondas cars at this time were compact, with small horse-power and miniscule dimensions and were more than unpopular with the American consumers. The Civic was introduced at a time when new emissions laws requiring car makers to add expensive smog pumps and catalytic converters to their engines. This increased the car prices across the market, apart from Honda cars. Honda had the ingenious idea of building a variation on the stratified charge engine. Called the CVCC (Compound Vortex-Controlled Combustion), it basically allowed the Civic to meet the emission standards without installing the expensive smog pump or converter. Another attractive offering with the 1975 Civic was that in the 4 years of production, no other car in the American market came close to the low fuel consumption of the Civic. This was mostly due to the more complete combustion, but also due to the general size of the car. American manufacturers were slow off the mark in producing small, fuel efficient cars which enabled the Honda Civic to sell well and enhance Hondas reputation across the pond. Recognizing the American markets needs, Honda developed a larger version of the Civic called the Accord. Now their reputation was sealed the Accord was an immediate success, thanks to its value, economy and fun-to-drive nature. True to form, the Accord is still one of the best selling cars in the US as it has been throughout the years. Different models have been developed, such as versions with a V6 engine and a larger body. Today, Honda are leaders of vehicle innovation. Some of their ideas and inventions have been ground-breaking and are employed by car manufacturers all over the world. In the last 10 years they have developed an released on the market, Hybrid cars that derive the power from a combination of a three cylinder gasoline engine and a battery pack. This type of Hybrid car is the closest to the car of the future on the market today. The lowest emissions and fuel consumption are combined with acceptable performance, making this the car and manufacturer of the future. |
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