Headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, Honda manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, scooters, robots, jets and jet engines, ATV, watercraft, electrical generators, marine engines, lawn and garden equipment, and aeronautical and other mobile technologies.

Honda's line of luxury cars is branded Acura in North America.

In October 1946, Soichiro Honda established the Honda Technical Research Institute in Hamamatsu, Japan, to develop and produce diminutive 2-cycle motorbike engines.

It can be said that Honda was a Japanese motorcycle manufacturer. Two years later, the Honda Motor Company was born.

Honda is the sixth largest automobile manufacturer and the largest engine maker in the world, producing more than 14 million internal combustion engines each year.

As of August 2008, Honda surpassed Chrysler as the fourth largest automobile manufacturer in the United States.

In 1964, it entered Formula One as a constructor for the first time. Later, in 1983, it returned to Formula One, initially with another Formula Two partner, the Spirit team, before switching abruptly to Williams in 1984.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Honda-powered cars won six consecutive Formula One Constructors Championships.

In 1998, Honda came back as an official engine supplier to British American Racing and Jordan Grand Prix. It was announced on 5 December 2008 that Honda would be exiting Formula One with immediate effect due to the 2008 global economic crisis.

Honda’s range is very large.

The best sellers are the very innovative Civic (also available in Hybrid powering), the economical Insight, the saloon Accord, and the well built SUV of the brand, the CR-V.

The very impressive S2000 has been one of the most exiting Honda ever built, but it’s is no longer available.

GREEN CREDENTIALS

Honda is also one of the most active brands concerned with the development of alternative energy.

Its cars work on several systems such as the compressed natural gas, the Flexible-fuel, the Hybrid electric and the Hydrogen fuel cell.

As an example, in late 1999 it launched the first commercial hybrid electric car sold in the US market, the Honda Insight, just one month prior to the introduction of the Toyota Prius.

It was considered the most fuel-efficient mass-produced car for the time.

Alongside the Insight, the Honda Civic GX is the only natural gas vehicle commercially available in some parts of the US. The car looks and drives just like a contemporary Honda Civic, but does not run on gasoline.

Also, the company recently announced that it would be launching its new hybrid vehicle, the CR-Z sports, in February 2010 in Japan.

This highly-awaited green vehicle from Honda will be in addition to the new hybrid coupe, which will make its appearance at the end of 2009 in the UK.

This new CR-Z hybrid will be powered like the Civic hybrid by the very efficient Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system. This system will be available within the next few years into the Honda Jazz.

As a result, Honda will be the only car maker able to propose a range of three hybrid vehicles. However, these accolades aren’t detracting Honda’s engineers from developing a new hybrid system that would equip mid-to-large vehicles.

The new CR-Z hybrid will be produce in Suzuka Factory. The using of this additional line could be possible with the unexpected success of the new Insight, which has exceeded all sales expectations for a special vehicle as it is.

With introduction of this new model, Honda confirms that it is one of the most active car manufacturers that uses new technologies to reduce its car’s environmental footprint.