motor company inc. type subsidiary founded 1959 headquarters torrance california united states area served north america key people john mendel evp number of employees 25 000 parent honda motor company ltd. website www.honda.com the american honda motor company inc. sometimes abbreviated as ahm is a north american subsidiary of the honda motor company ltd. it was founded in 1959 . the company combines product sales service and coordinating functions of honda in north america and is responsible for distribution marketing and sales of honda and acura brand automobiles honda power sports products including motorcycles scooters and all terrain vehicles and honda power equipment products including lawnmowers tillers string trimmers snow blowers generators small displacement general purpose engines and marine outboard engines . honda brand automobile models include the accord civic cr v element fcx clarity fit insight odyssey pilot and ridgeline . acura brand models are the rl tlx rlx ilx mdx rdx tsx tl and zdx . honda claims several firsts for a japanese car maker in the united states . the company was the first to create a subsidiary to market and sell its vehicles in the country and the first to manufacture automobiles in north america . 1 2 3 the headquarters are located in torrance california in the los angeles metropolitan area . the honda headquarters have 101 acres 41 ha of space . 4 contents 1 history 2 vehicles 2.1 environmental vehicles 3 manufacturing 4 research and development 5 motorsports 6 advertising 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit american honda headquarters in torrance california american honda motor co. inc. honda s first overseas subsidiary 1 opened in los angeles on june 11 1959 5 with capital investment of 250 000 and three employees . 6 the creation of a subsidiary was unusual for the time as other foreign auto companies typically relied on independent distributors . 3 in 1960 the first full year of operations american honda sold fewer than 2 000 motorcycles through three product lines the dream benly and honda 50 super cub . the following year honda established 500 motorcycle dealers and spent 150 000 on advertising in regions where it operated . honda s expansion into new u.s. markets was undertaken one region at a time over a five year period starting on the west coast and moving east creating new demand for motorcycles . sales in the u.s. did not increase notably until 1963 when the company launched its you meet the nicest people on a honda advertising campaign the first of its scale to position motorcycles to mainstream americans . 7 8 by the end of the year honda had sold more than 100 000 units in the u.s. more than all other motorcycle manufacturers combined . 9 expansion at this time led the company to move to a new headquarters facility in gardena california in september 1963 and total unit sales in 1964 represented nearly half of the u.s. motorcycle market . 3 honda had an easier time expanding in the u.s. than in japan where honda first began as a motorcycle manufacturer only later entering the automobile market in competition with other established competitors including toyota and nissan . by 1983 honda had 805 dealerships in the u.s. 2 in the early 1990s honda sold two cars in the u.s. for every one car it sold in japan . 3 in 1990 american honda took up residence in its current headquarters facility in torrance california . following the death of founder soichiro honda in 1991 the company s global operations were re organized forming four regional operations including north america . 3 as of 2010 honda employed more than 25 000 associates in the u.s. with a payroll of 1.6 billion . another 140 000 workers are employed at authorized dealerships in the u.s. and tens of thousands more work for the company s 530 u.s. original equipment oem suppliers . 6 vehicles edit honda first introduced passenger cars to the north american market in 1970 with sales of the honda n600 sedan through 32 dealers in the western u.s. ; however sales of the vehicle and subsequent model the z600 coupe only reached 20 000 units in 1972 . during the 1970s energy crisis however lightweight fuel efficient cars experienced a surge in demand . the honda civic introduced in 1973 became popular in the u.s. leading a significant expansion of honda into the u.s. market . by 1976 the company had 630 automobile dealers and honda followed the civic with the accord hatchback which became the best selling passenger car in the united states from 1990 to 1992 . 3 in 1977 the company partnered with j.d. power and associates to conduct a survey of its u.s. dealers and customers concerning their satisfaction with honda . the initiative led to the creation of the j.d. power and associates customer satisfaction index . 10 following the accord s success with middle class customers honda became the first japanese automaker to enter the luxury automobile market in 1986 when it launched the acura brand . in 1987 acura became america s best selling import luxury nameplate with its integra and legend product lines . 3 to differentiate the brand from its honda line the company created a second completely new dealer network requiring that acura dealerships be located a minimum of 10 miles 16 km from existing honda outlets and requiring each to invest 3 million to get started . 11 environmental vehicles edit honda has also had several firsts in the area of advanced environmental vehicles . in 1974 the civic cvcc was introduced as the first car to meet 1970 u.s. clean air act requirements without the need for a catalytic converter and using either regular or unleaded gasoline and was also rated 1 in fuel economy by the u.s. epa in its first ranking of america s most fuel efficient automobiles . 12 in december 1999 it launched the honda insight america s first gas electric hybrid car . 13 it later released the civic hybrid the first application of hybrid technology to an existing mass produced automobile ; and the accord hybrid the u.s. market s first v 6 hybrid car . 14 a second generation insight hybrid was launched in 2009 15 followed in 2010 by the cr z a two passenger car which was the first hybrid automobile available with a 6 speed manual transmission . 16 american honda has also been active in the deployment of low emissions vehicles in the u.s. including the first gasoline powered vehicles to meet california s low emission vehicle lev ultra low emission vehicle ulev and super ultra low emission vehicle sulev exhaust emissions requirements . 17 as of 2011 honda is the sole automaker in america marketing a mass produced natural gas vehicle the civic gx which is produced at its plant in greensburg indiana . the civic gx was recognized by the american council for an energy efficient economy aceee as the greenest vehicle in 2010 ; representing the seventh consecutive year receiving this distinction . 18 19 honda offered the first fuel cell electric vehicle to retail customers in the u.s. with its first generation fcx vehicle in december 2002 . in 2008 honda introduced an all new fcx clarity a fuel cell sedan which in 2010 was in the hands of more than two dozen retail customers based on lease sale agreements . 20 21 in january 2010 the company began operating its third version of a prototype solar powered hydrogen refueling station for fuel cell electric vehicles on its torrance california campus . the station utilized honda developed and manufactured thin film solar cells to provide energy for the reformation of hydrogen from water via electrolysis producing enough hydrogen to power a fuel cell electric vehicle 10 000 miles per year via a daily eight hour overnight fill . 22 manufacturing edit in the 1980s 2 honda established its own automobile plants in the u.s. becoming the first japanese automaker to build cars in the u.s. 3 honda already had begun producing motorcycles in the u.s. in 1979 17 and in 1982 honda began producing accord sedans at its first u.s. auto plant in marysville ohio . the 1 000 000 square foot 93 000 m2 plant cost nearly 300 million to build . 2 as of 2010 the plant measured 3 600 000 square feet 330 000 m2 with cumulative capital investment of 3.8 billion . during the next 10 years honda expanded its auto manufacturing presence and as of 2010 the company was operating nine u.s. plants in six states . collectively these plants produce honda and acura automobiles engines and transmissions as well as honda all terrain vehicles and honda power equipment products . in 2010 honda america continued construction on two new factories in north carolina one for the production of the hondajet very light jet in greensboro and a second to produce its ge honda hf120 turbofan engines in burlington . 23 24 25 research and development edit honda established u.s. research and development operations in southern california in 1975 as honda research california an arm of american honda motor co. inc. in 1979 honda research of america inc. hra was created as a subsidiary of honda r & d co. ltd. as of 2010 the company operates as honda r & d americas inc. with 14 facilities in north america including two product research and design studios for honda and acura in torrance california an automobile and motorcycle new model development center in raymond ohio and a power equipment research development and testing center in swepsonville north carolina . 8 the company s first u.s. development was the 1989 accord sei . in the early to mid 1990s hra developed a series of derivative models including two generations of accord wagon 1991 and 1994 the 1998 accord coupe and the 1997 acura cl coupe 1997 based heavily on the accord platform . in the 2000s decade the company created two generations of the honda pilot and acura mdx sport utility vehicles ; three generations of the acura tl sedan ; the honda element suv ; the 2006 honda ridgeline honda s first u.s. pickup truck ; and the 2010 acura zdx crossover coupe . both the 2001 mdx and 2006 ridgeline earned recognition as north american truck of the year as well as motor trend suv of the year mdx 26 and truck of the year ridgeline 27 while the pilot received five consecutive 5 best truck awards from car and driver magazine 2003 2007 . 28 in model year 2010 one third of the honda and acura models sold in the u.s. and five of the eight light trucks were models developed by honda r & d americas . 29 in september 2010 the third generation honda odyssey minivan was released as a 2011 model the most recent vehicle developed by the company exclusively in the u.s. 30 motorsports edit american honda joined u.s. open wheel racing competition with its entry into the championship auto racing teams cart series in 1992 following honda s four consecutive formula one world championships from 1988 to 1991 . the company under the auspices of its u.s. racing subsidiary honda performance development hpd captured six driver s championships and four manufacturer s titles winning 65 of 164 races between 1992 and 2002 . 31 hpd entered the indycar series in 2003 and from 2003 to 2005 honda teams and drivers achieved 28 victories in 49 races including the 2004 and 2005 indianapolis 500s . honda won the indycar series manufacturers championships in 2004 and 2005 while honda powered drivers won the drivers championships in the same years . in 2006 honda became the single engine supplier to the indycar series and has committed itself to the series through 2011 . 32 since 2007 hpd has also provided engines to prototype class teams