Honda

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. is a Japanese manufacturer of motorcycles, automobiles and power products, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. It was incorporated on September 24, 1948, and in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026 it sold about 14.7 million motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and side-by-sides and about 2.7 million automobiles. Its best-known products include the Super Cub and the Civic.

History of Honda

Honda began as a small workshop. According to the company’s annual report, the corporation was formed in 1948 as Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, as the successor to an unincorporated business that Soichiro Honda set up in 1946 to make motors for motorized bicycles. Its first motorcycle was the Dream D-Type, and the 98 cc Dream was the first model to be mass produced, in 1949.

In winter 1952, Soichiro Honda traveled to the United States and invested the latest capital increase in imported machine tools. He met Takeo Fujisawa after the Dream D-Type launched. Fujisawa became managing director, put money of his own into the company, and is regarded as a co-founder. He also saw that bicycle shops were an overlooked sales channel and wrote to more than 50,000 of them across Japan.

The turning point came in August 1958 with the Super Cub C100. Honda describes it as the most produced motor vehicle in history, and it helped change motorcycles from a niche product into a practical daily vehicle. In 1959 Honda opened its first overseas venture, American Honda Motor Co. in Los Angeles, and it entered the TT motorcycle race the same year, finishing sixth, seventh, eighth and tenth. In 1962 it built its first factory outside Japan, in Belgium.

Honda moved into cars in the early 1960s. It unveiled the T360 mini truck in 1962 and the S500 sports car in 1963. The N360 of 1966 was its first mass-produced mini car for the Japanese kei car class, which has strict limits on engine size and body dimensions, and the N600 became its first car on sale in the United States in 1969. Honda debuted in Formula One at the 1964 German Grand Prix, and in 1965 Richie Ginther gave it a first Grand Prix win in Mexico, the first for a Japanese manufacturer. After the death of Jo Schlesser in 1968, Honda withdrew from Formula One until the 1980s.

The Civic arrived in 1972. Its CVCC engine was built to meet the strict emissions rules of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Honda says the aim was to show the industry that tougher standards were both possible and necessary. In October 1973, around its 25th anniversary, Soichiro Honda and Fujisawa retired together and took the title of supreme advisors.

Products and services of Honda

Honda reports four business areas: motorcycles, automobiles, financial services, and power products and other businesses. Motorcycles are the volume leader. Consolidated unit sales of motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and side-by-sides were 14,673 thousand in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026, up 7.2 percent, mainly because of higher sales in India, Brazil and the Philippines, and motorcycle revenue rose from 3,626.6 billion yen to 4,018.8 billion yen.

Automobile unit sales were 2,711 thousand, down 4.5 percent, mainly because of lower sales in Asia. Power products, the fourth business area, sold 3,589 thousand units, down 3.0 percent, mainly because of lower sales in Asia, partly offset by higher sales in Europe. Honda also runs a financial services business.

Honda has raced since 1959 and cites the philosophy Man Maximum, Machine Minimum as the idea behind the N360. That small car fully used the legal limits for mini vehicles, which allowed 600 cc of engine displacement and a body no more than 3.4 meters long, yet offered a surprisingly spacious interior and automatic transmission as an option, called Hondamatic.

Corporate structure and operations of Honda

Honda’s principal executive office is at 2-3 Toranomon 2-chome in Minato-ku, Tokyo. The company says it develops, manufactures and markets motorcycles, automobiles and power products globally. As of March 31, 2025, it had 194,173 full-time employees, of whom 132,239 were local nationals employed in its overseas operations, and the figure was about the same a year earlier.

Capital spending was large. Honda’s capital expenditures on an accrual basis were 3,141.1 billion yen in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, 4,036.8 billion yen in 2025 and 3,804.7 billion yen in 2026. Excluding equipment on operating leases, the figures were 692.7 billion yen, 902.7 billion yen and 1,040.4 billion yen.

In its latest annual report, Honda said that consolidated sales revenue for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026 increased, mainly because of higher motorcycle revenue, partly offset by lower automobile revenue and negative currency effects. The report states that operating profit from the previous year turned into an operating loss, which it attributed mainly to EV-related losses and the impact of tariffs, and it reclassified provisions for EV-related losses as a separate item in its accounts. That shows how the shift to the electric vehicle can strain even a large manufacturer.

Impact of Honda

The Super Cub and the motorcycles that followed made personal mobility affordable in many markets, and recent growth in sales in India, Brazil and the Philippines shows that small motorcycles remain central to the business. By building plants overseas from the early 1960s, Honda became a global company when it was only about 15 years old.

In cars, the CVCC engine showed that an internal combustion engine could meet strict rules on exhaust emissions through design, which Honda cites as part of its effort to raise standards. The company competes with other Japanese automakers, including Toyota, and its home market, Japan, has a strong tradition of small, efficient vehicles.

Most of the facts above come from Honda’s own filings and statements. Independent figures on sales, safety and emissions are published by regulators and industry bodies, and readers who need them should consult those sources directly.

Editorially reviewed by Specialty Digest Editorial TeamLast reviewed November 4, 2026Researched and drafted with AI assistanceReport an issue