Honda's History and Corporate Philosophy

Honda's founder, Soichiro Honda was a dreamer and the pursuit of dreams remains intrinsic to the success of the company.

The Power of Dreams is our driving spirit – to ensure that we are always working for tomorrow, pushing the limits of mobility for the 21st Century and delivering products of the highest quality. At Honda we build and sell a unique range of products. From a brush cutter, to a corporate jet, if it has a practical use, you can bet Honda will build it. Between those two extremes, we produce motor cars, motorcycles, scooters, power equipment and outboard engines. No one produces such a diverse range as Honda.

In fact Honda plants around the world produced over 19,600,000 engines in 2004, making Honda the largest manufacturer of engines in the world, bar none.

Currently, it is estimated that approximately 1 million Honda products are used throughout Australia every day including motorcycles, power equipment, engines, outboards and motor vehicles.

Our engineers are continually seeking new horizons and challenges, to develop technologies that further promote rider, driver and pedestrian safety and the efficient use of fuels to protect and preserve the environment. But Honda isn't a recent phenomenon.

Our company was founded in 1948 as Honda Motor Company by Soichiro Honda, a talented, largely self taught engineer who'd had a number of businesses since he left school. Honda Motor Company was largely the result of his frustration at not being able to get enough petrol to run his car in post war Japan. Ever practical, Soichiro used a bit of lateral thinking and built a motorised bicycle, using a small war surplus generator engine. The idea took off and in a very short time he was building them for friends and neighbours alike. In fact, people came from all over to buy a bike from him.

By 1955, through a mixture of hard work, good luck and good products, Honda had become Japan's largest manufacturer of motorcycles. As the company grew it expanded its markets progressively, around the world. Motorcycle business was good, and Honda had broader horizons.

Honda's first cars appeared in 1963 including the Seven and Nine series coupes and sedans – the forerunners of today's Civic and Accord ranges. At the same time, the motorcycle range had expanded to cover every market segment creating a revolution in motorcycle marketing. No longer was the motorcyclist seen as the bad guy in the black leather jacket. Nice people rode motorcycles too, particularly Hondas. Honda's "H type"
small engine was developed concurrently with the motorcycle range, and the first outboard engine, the GB30 was released in July 1964.

Since the early days, Honda also harboured a passion to go racing. Soichiro Honda had been a fierce competitor in the 1930's in a car that he'd built himself so racing seemed to him to be a logical extension of the company's activities. Early success came in 1959 when Honda won the Team Manufacturer's championship for the 125cc class at the Isle of Mann TT. Since then, Honda has won numerous World motorcycle titles in all classes including Grand Prix, World Superbikes, Supersport, Supercross, Motocross and Enduro.

Racing has always been a part of Honda's DNA, not only in motorcycles but in F1, Indy Racing League, powerboats, sportscars and Touring cars as well. Our engineers see racing as a high speed test laboratory; a way of testing new technologies to the limit. Many technologies, such as V-TEC in our F1 engines in the mid 1990's have found their way into the cars, motorcycles, outboard engines and even the stationary engines we build and sell.

Corporate Philosophy

Honda MPE is dedicated to supplying products of the highest efficiency yet at a reasonable price for worldwide customer satisfaction.

We aim to be an industry leader through:

• Promoting a working environment which embraces the Honda Philosophy.
• Establishing a product range which will be accepted by our customers and apply pressure to our competitors.
• Building a dealer network which reflects our desires and intentions.
• Seeking out new fields in order to expand our business.
• Encouraging a safe riding mind set through HART activities, and fulfill our social responsibility as a motorcycle company.
• Contributing to the community through participation in regional community activities.
• Contributing to the Australian economy through the operation of a stable business expansion of exports and employment.

The strength of the Honda Corporation comes from the Honda Philosophy which was created by the company's founder, Soichiro Honda. Our commitment is built on two important Honda philosophies; Respect for the Individual and The Three Joys.

Respect for the Individual reflects Honda's belief in the unique capabilities of the human being. This fundamental respect defines the company's relationship with Honda associates, customers, dealers, business partners and society. Simply put, our motivation and main concern is people - to make a difference by doing what's right.

Honda also believes that every person involved in the process of buying, selling or producing our products should receive a sense of joy from the experience. Together, these Three Joys result in an overall joy of affiliation - a positive feeling resulting from a relationship with Honda. It is our desire that in every community in which we do business, society will want Honda to exist.