An Overview of the Honda Car Brand
The primary manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles in Japan is the Honda Company which belongs to the ‘Public Multicultural Corporation’ of the country. Since 1959, this country has been producing the largest numbers of motorcycles worldwide surpassing even the giants Nissan to become the 2nd largest manufacturers. Honda was actually the first brand from Japan to release a brand of vehicle that was dedicated to luxury and this was the Acura in the year 1986. The brand has been able to diversify and even venture into other niches like equipment, power generators, personal watercrafts and even marine engines.
The History of Honda
Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda, had a huge interest in automobiles from the age he was born until 1991. He was just a boy when he was working at a tuning shop as one of the mechanics and it was during this time that he entered cars that he had tuned into races. The surprising fact is that Honda taught himself the engineering skills and he had built a design that he wanted Toyota to buy. The designs were initially rejected which made Honda to work harder leading him to opt for taking classes. His hard work eventually paid off, after he had been painstakingly through a lot like pawning jewelry, and he got a contract with Toyota that required him to build pistons that were destroyed from an earthquake.
There was a shortage of gasoline in the ‘World War II’ era and it was during this time that Honda started developing plans of using small engines. This is an idea that he retrieved from the bicycles that used the same principle before he later established the HTRI (Honda Technical Research Institute) in the Japanese city of Hamamatsu. The T360 was the first automobile to be produced from Japan in the summer of 1963. This car was only powered by a gasoline engine (356 cc) and owing to its size; it was categorized under the Kei Car which are cheaper automobiles. The first car that was mass produced from the company was the Honda S500 which was a very sleek sports car that was launched in the same year as the T360 but a month later. The rear wheels of the car were driven by chains and this can be traced back to Honda origins; the motorcycles.
Corporate:
The headquarters of Honda are in Minato which is located in Tokyo, Japan. The company trades its shares on the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) and the TSE (Tokyo Stock Exchange) as well. The company experienced an amazing constant growth that saw it assembling plants worldwide in countries like the U.S, England, New Zealand, India, etc. In 2007 Honda outstanding profits (in Yen) in most of the branches and the order was as follows: Japan made 1,681,190; North America made 5,980,876; Europe made 1,236,757; Asia made 1,283,154; and the rest made 905,153. With the need of diversification, offices for this company were opened in America with the base being in Torrance, CA. The one in charge of the Canadian region, the ‘Honda Canada Inc.’ relocated to the present location that has a manufacturing division in the year 2008. Other numerous joint ventures have also been created worldwide in countries like China, India, and Pakistan.
The Perseverance of Honda
During the recession of 2008, high prices for fuel did not deter Honda from making profits and it even recorded a 1% increase in sales. Most of its competitors suffered double the amount in losses, but Honda was a brand that was still making money and that’s why sales went up for more than 20% during the same time period. The secret that Honda uses is manufacturing vehicle that are fuel efficient and are mostly small in size which makes them suitable for numerous locations. In addition to this, Honda has constantly been redesigning all of its factories so that they can have the capability of remodeling any model that is in high demand. This has ensured that they are miles ahead from their other competitors hence making them immune to any outside factors such as the recession for instance.
Marketing
The Honda located in Japan made a decision with regards to the course of action to be taken in order for capitalization through diversification can be achieved. ‘Honda Verno’ was as a result created and it was mainly involved in selling products that had extremely high levels of content and were already established. These stores sold a variety of models from this series and as time went by, the newer models were also incorporated into the list. International efforts were also put into place when Honda released numerous advertisements on the internet and also the ‘Cog’ one, which was in the year 2003. The ad was made from car parts and the engineers took them from the pre-production models that are normally used as the Accord’s models. Other adverts were produced later on like for instance the ‘Grrr Advert’ that was produced in the year 2004 and a year later, the ‘Impossible Dream advert’ followed.
Sports
When there were telecasts of motor racing, Honda advertised numerous times and in 2006 even became the FIA’s official sponsor for Channel 10. As a matter of fact, this was the only company that was involved in the racing at the Indy season later on in the same year. The adverts were aired in forms of series where Honda even claimed to have built the vehicles which won the “1972 Formula 1 Grand Prix.” Honda claimed that it did not just contribute engines alone but aerodynamic parts, chassis and other tooling which is the reason of the statement. Another marketing technique that uses sports is the partnership that Honda has with the ‘Anaheim Ducks’ and the ‘National Hockey League’ which are teams that play in the NHL. In addition to this, the company has also been sponsoring the golf tournament dubbed the ‘Honda Classic’ and the ‘Major League Soccer.’