Honda

Honda was the first Japanese automaker to introduce Acura, a luxury-focused brand, in 1986. Honda produces a variety of items in addition to its primary markets of automobiles and motorcycles, including garden tools, marine engines, personal watercraft, and power generators. Honda has been working on robotics and artificial intelligence research since 1986, and in 2000, they unveiled its ASIMO robot. With the founding of GE Honda Aero Engines in 2004 and the Honda HA-420 HondaJet, whose manufacturing started in 2012, they have also entered the aerospace industry. Dongfeng Honda and Guangqi Honda are Honda joint ventures in China.

Honda allocated around 5.7% ($6.8 billion) of its revenues ($13 billion) on R&D in 2013. Additionally in 2013, Honda became the first Japanese automaker to export goods to the US on a net basis.

Soichiro Honda, the man who founded Honda, has a lifelong fascination with cars. At the Art Shokai garage, where he worked as a mechanic, he modified vehicles and entered them in competitions. Honda established Tkai Seiki (Eastern Sea Precision Machine Company) in 1937 to produce piston rings while operating out of the Art Shokai garage with funding provided by his friend Kato Shichir. After several initial failures, Tkai Seiki was awarded a contract to provide piston rings to Toyota, but they were unable to keep it because of the subpar quality of their goods. Honda was able to mass-produce piston rings that Toyota would have approved of in 1941 using an automated method after attending engineering school without graduating and touring factories around Japan to better understand Toyota's quality control procedures known as the "Five whys".


American Honda Motor Co., Inc. - Official Site
https://www.honda.com