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Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (本田技研工業株式会社 Honda Giken Kōgyō Kabushiki Kaisha) TYO: 7267 (NYSE: HMC), is a Japanese manufacturer of automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, and scooters. more...

They also make ATVs, water craft, electrical generators, marine engines, and lawn and garden equipment. With more than 14 million internal combustion engines built each year, Honda is the largest engine-maker in the world. In 2004, the company began to produce diesel motors, which were both very quiet whilst not requiring particulate filters to pass pollution standards. Honda's high-end line of cars are branded Acura in North America. Many Japanese automakers have well-earned reputations for dependability and longevity, with production being well quality-controlled. Honda automobiles are well known around the world to be very reliable, with many Hondas going through their lives without needing a single major repair, and many people believe that these cars last "forever" because after 20 years, their cars are still running. It is arguable, however, that the foundation of Honda's success is the motorcycle division, for which the name is still probably the best known.

Honda is headquartered in Tokyo. Their shares trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange, as well as exchanges in Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Kyoto, Fukuoka, London, Paris and Switzerland. American Honda Motor Co., is based in Torrance, CA. Honda Canada is based in Toronto, Ontario.

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 the Honda Motor Co. was founded. Soichiro Honda took advantage of a gap in the Japanese market that was 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.

The Honda piston manufacturing facilities were almost completely destroyed. Soichiro Honda created a new company with what he had left, giving it the unusual name of "Honda Giken Kōgyō Kabushiki Kaisha" which translates to "Honda Research Institute Co. Ltd." Despite its grandiose name, the first facility bearing that name was a simple wooden shack where Mr. Honda and associates would fit engines to bicycles. Interestingly, the official Japanese name for Honda Motor Co. Ltd. remains the same, in honor of Soichiro Honda's efforts.

Honda quickly began to produce a range of scooters and motorcycles and Soichiro Honda quickly recovered from the losses incurred during the war. 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.

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