Honda - specs, fuel economy, dimensions, MPG

History of Honda

Honda Motor Co., Ltd., based in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, is a Japanese public multinational company that produces vehicles, motorbikes, and power equipment. Soichiro Honda, the company's namesake and creator, was an avid car fan for the most of his life. Honda was able to mass-produce piston rings that Toyota would have approved of in 1941 using an automated process that could use even unskilled wartime labourers after attending engineering school without receiving a diploma and visiting factories throughout Japan to better understand Toyota's quality control procedures known as the "Five whys."

By collaborating with other businesses to automate the manufacture of military aircraft propellers, Honda contributed to the war effort. Toyota, Nakajima Aircraft Corporation, and the Imperial Japanese Navy employees all played important roles in Honda's postwar success. The Yamashita plant of Tokai Seiki was destroyed by a US B-29 bomber attack in 1944, and the Itawa plant was destroyed by the Mikawa earthquake on January 13, 1945.

Over the next decades, Honda actively sought to expand its product offerings, operations, and exports to a growing number of nations. To better compete in the upscale automobile market, Honda introduced the Acura brand to the United States in 1986. The first all-aluminum monocoque vehicle with a mid-mounted V6 and variable valve timing, the Honda NSX supercar debuted in 1991.

In 1992 and 1993, the Japanese media stated that Mitsubishi Motors, which at the time was a bigger carmaker by volume and was flush with revenues from its popular Pajero and Diamante models, was seriously considering a hostile acquisition of Honda.

Honda and General Motors announced in September 2020 a North American alliance to begin in 2021. The Detroit Free Press reports that the proposed alliance will involve cooperation in purchasing, research and development, and connected services, in addition to sharing a variety of vehicles to be sold under each company's unique brands.

Honda’s plants and facilities

Honda's main office is in the Minato neighbourhood of Tokyo. A number of locations around the world serve as manufacturing centres for the company. The countries of China, Pakistan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, New Zealand, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, India, Turkey, Peru, and Argentina, all have manufacturing facilities. From July 2009 to July 2010, the percentage of Honda and Acura cars manufactured in North America that were sold in the United States increased from 82.2% to 89.0%.

Torrance, California, is home to American Honda Motor Corporation.

Vehicle range

Ranging from small subcompacts to automobiles, to crossovers, to hybrids, the company's offering is broad. There's even a pickup truck and a minivan!

Interesting facts about Honda

Since 1959, Honda has produced more motorcycles than any other company, and by the end of 2019, they will have produced 400 million. Additionally, Honda produces more internal combustion engines than any other company, at a rate of over 14 million units annually. In 2001, Honda surpassed Toyota to become Japan's second-largest automaker. In 2015, Honda was the eighth biggest automobile manufacturer in the world.

Apart from its main vehicle and motorbike operations, Honda also makes garden equipment, marine engines, personal watercraft, power generators, and other items. Honda has been exploring the intersection of AI and robotics since 1986, and they introduced its ASIMO robot in 2000. They have also moved into aerospace with the founding of GE Honda Aero Engines in 2004 and the Honda HA-420 HondaJet, which commenced production in 2012. In China, Honda has established not one but two joint ventures: Dongfeng Honda and Guangqi Honda.

Shortest and longest models

The length of the Fit is 164.1 inches, and its width is 67 inches, making it the automaker's smallest product. The largest 2022 Honda Pilot has a spacious 152.9 cubic feet of passenger volume and a maximum cargo volume of 109 cubic feet with the second and third rows folded down.

Motorsports history

Only one year after starting to build road vehicles, Honda entered Formula One for the first time in 1964, producing both the engine and the chassis. Honda scored their maiden victory in the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix and another win at the 1967 Italian Grand Prix before they left after the 1968 season. They returned to the industry as an engine producer in 1983 and remained there until 1992. Honda dominated Grand Prix racing during this time period, winning six Constructors' Championships with Williams and McLaren and five consecutive Drivers' Championships with Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna, and Alain Prost. A third tenure from 2000 through 2008, originally as an engine manufacturer and subsequently also as a team owner, resulted in 17 podium finishes, including one victory and second place in the constructors' standings in 2004. In 2015, when the hybrid era was in its second year, they returned as a power unit supplier and at first struggled. However, with constant development, they were able to win races once more by 2019, and in 2021, they shared the World Drivers' Championship with Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing. Honda made a formal exit from Formula One in 2021 to devote its attention to carbon-neutral technologies, but a deal was made for it to continue supplying power units to Red Bull through 2025.

Honda’s biggest competitors

Other automakers that compete with Honda include Ford, GM, Toyota, Suzuki, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Nissan, FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles), BMW, and Mercedes-Benz.

Pros and cons of Honda’s models

The worst models and their imperfections

1993 – 1997 Honda Civic del Sol - The del Sol, based on the Civic, was a front-wheel-drive sports vehicle with a motorized vertical rear window and a leaking Targa top. The result was a vehicle that seemed like an open-air experience inside but weighed several hundred pounds more than it should have. There was a lot going on at the del Sol (the Civic name was deleted in 1995), so maybe that was its curse. The 2-seater's framework was solid. 1994's VTEC model improved power significantly but fell short when it came to simplifying the car's aesthetic.
1994 Honda Passport - After all, it was a respectable truck, a useful utility vehicle, although more of an Isuzu than a Honda. Labelling it as such was a crude but effective way to address a serious shortcoming in the company's product offering.
1995 Honda Odyssey - The first Honda Odyssey, which was built on the same basis as the Accord, was a little van with a weak engine. The absence of folding back doors was a notable feature. While it was not inexpensive, there was no V6 engine option. Nonetheless, it was not a complete failure. The first Odyssey was a well-made car with innovative features including a foldable rear seat. But, funding constraints brought on civil unrest ultimately doomed the first Odyssey.
2002 Honda Civic Si - The key is finding the sweet spot between lightness and peppy power, with a healthy dose of agile maneuverability and a pinch of practicality thrown in for good measure. The seventh version of Honda's fantastically entertaining automobile is, however, possibly the poorest of the bunch. The worst-ever Civic Si deal was clinched by a combination of factors, including a departure from the popular, higher-revving B-series 4-cylinder engine and dubious revisions to the suspension.
2005 – 2007 Honda Accord Hybrid - Hybrids, like compact automobiles, are expected to have excellent gas mileage. Finally, if you can pull it off, throw in some time behind the wheel as a free added bonus. Regrettably, the 2005 Honda Accord Hybrid was the unasked-for hybrid version of a popular car. But why purchase one when a regular Accord can do the job for hundreds less?
2010 – 2014 Honda Insight - A direct line may be drawn from the first Insight to the plethora of transmissions available today. The first generation Insight paved the way for advancements in a variety of technologies, including gas-electric hybrids, enhanced internal combustion, electrics, fuel cells, and more. Generation two is quite different from the first. In comparison to the Prius, it was almost the same, but not an improvement. The second generation Insight was a poor imitation of the Toyota Prius; it was noisier, narrower, and poorly equipped, and it did not come close to matching the Prius' fuel efficiency.
2011 – 2016 Honda CR-Z - The CR-Z was doomed from the start as a compromise due to its attempts to please too many people, and it lasted only five model years before being discontinued. The only thing the CR-Z accomplished was to make Honda fans wait for the CRX even longer as they passed it on the road since it was so slow and had so many problems, such as a high price, a low ride height, and poor blind spots.
2014 – 2015 Honda Accord Plug-in Hybrid - The car mostly failed to adequately address the top three concerns of plug-in purchasers: practicality, driving range, and charging time. Only those with short commutes (less than 30 miles) and plenty of time to charge up would be able to make the switch to electric-only driving. The Accord's fuel economy was above average, and it could go more than 500 miles on a single tank of petrol.

Innovation made by Honda

In 1986, Honda was the first Japanese automaker to launch a dedicated premium brand called Acura.

Safety and reliability

According to RepairPal, Honda has the highest brand reliability rating of any automaker at 4.0 out of 5.0. This rating is average among over 350 popular makes and models. Repairs for a Honda typically cost less than $500 a year, and owners can expect to take their vehicles in for service once every two years.

Honda is one of the most reliable brands overall, with four distinct models at the top of its class and a few more making up the ranks of close second and third. The regular Honda warranty lasts for three years and 36,000 miles, while the powertrain warranty lasts for five years and 60,000 miles.

Honda has been around for a long time because of the quality of its engineering and the value it offers despite its rather simple design. Hondas have one of the best resale prices in the car industry due to their durability; you can still see Civics from the late 1990s on the road today, for example.

Electric models

In March 2022, Honda stated it would collaborate with Sony to design and manufacture electric automobiles. The latter will supply its image, sensing, network, and other technology, while Honda will be in charge of the automobile production processes. The enterprise is slated to debut completely later in 2022, with the delivery of the first automobiles anticipated for 2025.

Specs, fuel ecomony, MPG, dimensions of all Honda models