HONDA

Founded by Soichiro Honda and Takeo Fujisawa on September 24, 1948, Honda Motor Company, Ltd. slowly became the world’s sixth largest manufacturer of automobiles. The company is a member of the Big Asian Four, the other three being Toyota, Nissan, and Hyundai.

Honda’s global line of cars is composed of the Fit, Civic, Accord, Insight, CR-V, Odyssey and S2000. Civic is the longest running brand from a Japanese manufacturer, second only to the Toyota Corolla which has been in the market since 1968. Accord, a series of mid-size automobiles, is the first Japanese car that saw production in United States. Insight, an affordable hybrid electric vehicle, was introduced in 1996 to rival Toyota Prius. It was also from Honda that the first Japanese luxury vehicle came, the Acura which was released in 1986.

Honda's first production automobile was the T360 mini pick-up truck. The first production car from Honda was the S500 sports car.

Chronological highlights of the history of behind Honda cars as reported by world.honda.com include:

1963 Honda's first sports car (S500) and light truck (T360) released. 1966 Sales and export of S800 begin. 1967 Front-wheel-drive minicar, N360, released. 1968 Export of N360 and N600 begin.

1971 Life minicar released.

1972 Civic released.

1976 Accord CVCC (1600cc) released.

1978 Prelude released.

1981 City released. 1985 Today minicar and Legend released. Quint Integra released.

1986 Honda expanded into the luxury automobile market with the creation of the Acura brand

1989 Accord Inspire released.

1990 NSX sports car released. 1992 Worldwide automobile production reaches 20 million units. 1994 Odyssey released.

1995 Worldwide Civic production reaches 10 million units. CR-V sports utility vehicle released. Worldwide automobile production reaches 30 million units.

1996 Step WGN (Wagon) released. 1999 Honda S2000 sports car released. Lagreat Canadian-made minivan released. Insight hybrid released.