for other uses see honda disambiguation . honda motor co. ltd. honda headquarters native name romanized name honda giken kogyo kabushiki gaisha type public k.k. traded as tyo 7267 nyse hmc industry automotive aviation telematics conglomerate founded hamamatsu japan october 1946 1946 10 incorporated 24 september 1948 ; 68 years ago 1948 09 24 founder soichiro honda takeo fujisawa headquarters minato tokyo japan area served worldwide key people fumihiko ike chairman takanobu ito president and ceo products 4 110 000 vehicles 2012 automobiles commercial vehicles luxury vehicles motorcycles scooters electric generators water pumps lawn and garden equipments tillers outboard motors robotics jet aircraft jet engines thin film solar cells internavi revenue 11.85 trillion 2014 1 usd 119 billion 2014 operating income 750 billion 2014 1 net income 574 billion 2014 2 5.75 billion 2014 total assets 11.780 trillion 2012 3 total equity 4.402 trillion 2012 3 owner japan trustee services bank trust 6.46 % the master trust bank of japan trust 4.71 % mokusurei 3.09 % meiji yasuda life 2.83 % tokio marine nichido 2.35 % 3 2014 currently number of employees 198 561 2014 divisions acura honda automobiles honda motorcycles subsidiaries list transportation american honda motor company acura honda aircraft company hpd honda automobile china company 50 % guangqi honda automobile 50 % li nian everus honda seil cars india honda motorcycle and scooter india dongfeng honda 50 % honda spain montesa air transportation honda airways sports honda racing f1 honda racing engines ge honda aero engines 50 % international honda pakistan honda canada inc. honda taiwan honda uk ltd. website world.honda.com honda motor co. ltd. honda giken k gy kk ipa ho da listen ; h nd is a japanese public multinational conglomerate corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles aircraft motorcycles and power equipment . honda has been the world s largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959 4 5 as well as the world s largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume producing more than 14 million internal combustion engines each year . 6 honda became the second largest japanese automobile manufacturer in 2001 . 7 8 honda was the eighth largest automobile manufacturer in the world behind general motors volkswagen group toyota hyundai motor group ford nissan and psa peugeot citro n in 2011 . 9 honda was the first japanese automobile manufacturer to release a dedicated luxury brand acura in 1986 . aside from their core automobile and motorcycle businesses honda also manufactures garden equipment marine engines personal watercraft and power generators and other products . since 1986 honda has been involved with artificial intelligence robotics research and released their asimo robot in 2000 . they have also ventured into aerospace with the establishment of ge honda aero engines in 2004 and the honda ha 420 hondajet which began production in 2012 . honda has three joint ventures in china honda china dongfeng honda and guangqi honda . in 2013 honda invested about 5.7 % us 6.8 billion of its revenues in research and development . 10 also in 2013 honda became the first japanese automaker to be a net exporter to the united states exporting 108 705 honda and acura models while importing only 88 357 . 11 contents 1 history 2 corporate profile and divisions 3 leadership 4 products 4.1 automobiles 4.2 motorcycles 4.3 power equipment 4.4 engines 4.5 robots 4.6 aircraft 4.7 mountain bikes 5 former products 5.1 atv 5.2 solar cells 6 motorsports 6.1 automobile 6.2 motorcycles 7 electric and alternative fuel vehicles 7.1 compressed natural gas 7.2 flexible fuel 7.3 hybrid electric 7.4 hydrogen fuel cell 7.5 plug in electric vehicles 8 marketing 8.1 japan 8.1.1 dealership list 8.2 international efforts 8.3 sports 9 facilities partial list 10 mainstream models 11 us sales 12 production numbers 13 see also 14 notes 15 references 16 external links history throughout his life honda s founder soichiro honda had an interest in automobiles . he worked as a mechanic at the art shokai garage where he tuned cars and entered them in races . in 1937 with financing from his acquaintance kato shichir honda founded t kai seiki eastern sea precision machine company to make piston rings working out of the art shokai garage . 12 after initial failures t kai seiki won a contract to supply piston rings to toyota but lost the contract due to the poor quality of their products . 12 after attending engineering school without graduating and visiting factories around japan to better understand toyota s quality control processes by 1941 honda was able to mass produce piston rings acceptable to toyota using an automated process that could employ even unskilled wartime laborers . 12 13 16 19 t kai seiki was placed under control of the ministry of commerce and industry called the ministry of munitions after 1943 at the start of world war ii and soichiro honda was demoted from president to senior managing director after toyota took a 40 % stake in the company . 12 honda also aided the war effort by assisting other companies in automating the production of military aircraft propellers . 12 the relationships honda cultivated with personnel at toyota nakajima aircraft company and the imperial japanese navy would be instrumental in the postwar period . 12 a us b 29 bomber attack destroyed t kai seiki s yamashita plant in 1944 and the itawa plant collapsed in the 13 january 1945 mikawa earthquake and soichiro honda sold the salvageable remains of the company to toyota after the war for 450 000 and used the proceeds to found the honda technical research institute in october 1946 . 12 14 with a staff of 12 men working in a 16 m2 170 sq ft shack they built and sold improvised motorized bicycles using a supply of 500 two stroke 50 cc tohatsu war surplus radio generator engines . 12 13 19 15 when the engines ran out honda began building their own copy of the tohatsu engine and supplying these to customers to attach to their bicycles . 12 15 this was the honda a type nicknamed the bata bata for the sound the engine made . 12 in 1949 the honda technical research institute was liquidated for 1 000 000 or about us 5 000 today ; these funds were used to incorporate honda motor co. ltd. 13 21 at about the same time honda hired engineer kihachiro kawashima and takeo fujisawa who provided indispensable business and marketing expertise to complement soichiro honda s technical bent . 13 21 the close partnership between soichiro honda and fujisawa lasted until they stepped down together in october 1973 . 13 21 the first complete motorcycle with both the frame and engine made by honda was the 1949 d type the first honda to go by the name dream . 14 16 honda motor company grew in a short time to become the world s largest manufacturer of motorcycles by 1964 . citation needed the first production automobile from honda was the t360 mini pick up truck which went on sale in august 1963 . 17 powered by a small 356 cc straight 4 gasoline engine it was classified under the cheaper kei car tax bracket . 18 the first production car from honda was the s500 sports car which followed the t360 into production in october 1963 . its chain driven rear wheels pointed to honda s motorcycle origins . 19 over the next few decades honda worked to expand its product line and expanded operations and exports to numerous countries around the world . in 1986 honda introduced the successful acura brand to the american market in an attempt to gain ground in the luxury vehicle market . the year 1991 saw the introduction of the honda nsx supercar the first all aluminum monocoque vehicle that incorporated a mid engine v6 with variable valve timing . 20 ceo tadashi kume was succeeded by nobuhiko kawamoto in 1990 . kawamoto was selected over shoichiro irimajiri who oversaw the successful establishment of honda of america manufacturing inc. in marysville ohio . both kawamoto and irimajiri shared a friendly rivalry within honda and irimajiri would resign in 1992 due to health issues . following the death of soichiro honda and the departure of irimajiri honda found itself quickly being outpaced in product development by other japanese automakers and was caught off guard by the truck and sport utility vehicle boom of the 1990s all which took a toll on the profitability of the company . japanese media reported in 1992 and 1993 that honda was at serious risk of an unwanted and hostile takeover by mitsubishi motors who at the time was a larger automaker by volume and flush with profits from their successful pajero and diamante . 21 kawamoto acted quickly to change honda s corporate culture rushing through market driven product development that resulted in recreational vehicles such as the first generation odyssey and the cr v and a refocusing away from some of the numerous sedans and coupes that were popular with honda s engineers but not with the buying public . the most shocking change to honda came when kawamoto ended honda s successful participation in formula one after the 1992 season citing costs in light of the takeover threat from mitsubishi as well as the desire to create a more environmentally friendly company image . 22 later 1995 gave rise to the honda aircraft company with the goal of producing jet aircraft under honda s name . 23 on 23 february 2015 honda announced that ceo and president takanobu ito would step down and be replaced by takahiro hachigo by june ; additional retirements by senior managers and directors were expected . 24 corporate profile and divisions honda headquarters building in minato tokyo honda is headquartered in minato tokyo japan . their shares trade on the tokyo stock exchange and the new york stock exchange as well as exchanges in osaka nagoya sapporo kyoto fukuoka london paris and switzerland . the company has assembly plants around the globe . these plants are located in china the united states pakistan canada england japan belgium brazil m xico new zealand malaysia indonesia india philippines thailand vietnam turkey taiwan per and argentina . as of july 2010 89 percent of honda and acura vehicles sold in the united states were built in north american plants up from 82.2 percent a year earlier . this shields profits from the yen s advance to a 15 year high against the dollar . 25 honda s net sales and other operating revenue by geographical regions in 2007 26 geographic region total revenue in millions of japan 1 681 190 north america 5 980 876 europe 1 236 757 asia 1 283 154 others 905 163 american honda motor company is based in torrance california . honda racing corporation hrc is honda s motorcycle racing division . honda canada inc. is headquartered in markham ontario 27 their manufacturing division honda of canada manufacturing is based in alliston ontario . honda has also created joint ventures around the world such as honda siel cars and hero honda motorcycles in india 28 guangzhou honda and dongfeng honda in china boon siew honda in malaysia and honda atlas in pakistan . following the japanese earthquake and tsunami in march 2011 honda announced plans to halve production at its uk plants . 29 the decision was made to put staff at the swindon plant on a 2 day week until the end of may as the manufacturer struggled to source supplies from japan . it s thought around 22 500 cars were produced during this period . leadership name years soichiro honda 1948 1973 kiyoshi kawashima 1973 1983 tadashi kume 1983 1990 nobuhiko kawamoto 1990 1998 hiroyuki yoshino 1998 2003 takeo fukui 2003 2009 takanobu ito 2009 2015 takahiro hachigo 2015 products automobiles for a list of automobiles see list of honda automobiles . 2013 honda accord north american