What is Honda and when did it start making cars?
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Honda is the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer. But also cars, of course. Quad bikes, lawn mowers, outboard motors, power tools, generators, humanoid robots and jet planes, among others.
Founded as the Honda Technical Research Institute by Soichiro Honda In 1946, with the proceeds from the sale of its previous company to Toyota, the company began retrofitting excess generator motors for bicycles.
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Then, in 1948, it became “Honda Motor Co” – the name we know it by today – and soon began making real motorcycles with engines and chassis it had designed itself. Until 1955, Honda was the largest motorcycle manufacturer in Japan.
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The company’s first cars arrived in 1963 T360, a small pick-up truck named for its mid-size 356cc motorcycle engine 30 hp at an astonishing 8,500 rpm, the tiny but beautiful and very clever one S500 RoadsterA few months later, Honda’s first passenger car followed, with a 531 cc in-line quad, a red line at 9,500 rpm and chain drive.
Where is Hondas built and how many does it build per year?
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Honda has sold a lot 29.83 million Things in fiscal year 2019-20. And 4.85 million of those things cars were over 19 million were motorcycles and the rest was what it calls “power products” (lawnmowers, generators, outboard motors, water pumps, leaf blowers … the list goes on). Of course, there are factories all over the world – Japan, China, USA, Canada, India, Mexico, Brazil and more. Unfortunately, Honda’s factory in Swindon, England is close to being closed and sold. Honda built its 100 millionth car in 2016, two years after building its 300 millionth motorcycle.
What cars does Honda build?
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First, there are the SUVs and crossovers – the popular CR-V and the smaller HR-V. The Jazz hatchback is cleverly constructed and extremely versatile for such a small car, and the ubiquitous Civic is a solid family hatchback. However, the Civic Type R is among the best hot hatchbacks money can buy.
Honda’s first production EV, simply called the Honda e, was launched last year. Yes, it’s flawed – it’s relatively expensive, inconvenient, and inexpensive – but brilliantly cool, fun, charming, and feels exceptionally well screwed together. A former Top Gear Award winner and still one of our favorite electric vehicles.
Also available but rarely seen in the UK is Honda’s flagship – the mighty NSX supercar. With 573 hp of his 3.5 liter V6 and three electric motors, the NSX has a top speed of 307 km / h and a time from 0 to 60 km / h under three seconds. Objectively a rival for something like the Audi R8, it’s an extremely clever car. Another view of the super sports car and therefore very appealing.
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What’s the fastest Honda ever built?
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Honda makes huge driver cars, and rightly so, straight speed has never been of great concern to them. Even so, today’s NSX supercar is tremendously fast – it is 3.5 liter V6 is associated with as many as three electric motors for a combined 573 hp. Honda claims a top speed of 307 km / h and 0-60 km / h in 2.9 seconds. It’s the fastest Honda on the road that has ever existed.
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But of course Honda has a rich motorsport history. It has held various positions in Formula 1 both as an engine supplier and as a designer (it was much more successful than the former than the latter), so its “fastest ever” car is likely an F1 car of any description, be it one with one Honda Motor (this year’s Red Bull, the McLaren, which won 15 out of 16 races in 1988) or with a Honda badge (the last was the RA108 from 2008).
What was Honda’s best moment?
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As for cars, it has to be the first generation NSX. The mid-engined supercar was developed with the assistance of none other than Ayrton Senna, who was so good that it lasted from 1990 to 2005 with minimal changes along the way. It was particularly highly rated by the great Gordon Murray who had one as his daily driver when he developed the McLaren F1 and was inspired by the ride and handling and general usability of the Honda. A landmark car.
You can’t ignore Honda’s record as an engine supplier either. Although Honda had its own F1 team from 1964 to 1968 and then again from 2006 to 2008, it had more success as a supplier of engines to other teams, notably Williams and McLaren. It has had its ups and downs, but over the years, Honda engines have won over 70 F1 races, six constructors ‘championships and five drivers’ championships.
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Honda is also extremely successful in IndyCar – for years it was the only engine supplier to the series. Between 2006 and 2011, 98 drivers covered 1,912,505 km of training, qualification and races with only six engine failures on race day. Not a single engine failed during the entire 2008, 2010 and 2011 racing season.
If you let the cars stand for a minute, you could argue that Honda put the world on wheels just as Ford did with the Model T. The Super Cub motorcycle has been in production since 1958 (but is updated frequently, of course) and is the best-selling motorized one Motorcycle vehicle of all time. So far, over 100 million pieces have been produced.
What was Honda’s worst moment?
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As early as 2015, the US punished Honda with a massive fine $ 70 million (3.3 billion pesetas) “for failing to report fatalities, injuries and certain warranty claims to the federal government” after Honda “failed to submit early warning reports (EEA reports) to National Highway Traffic to identify potential or actual safety issues” Safety Administration (NHTSA) .
It was only last year that the company achieved a $ 85 million (4 billion pesetas) Comparison with different US states after an investigation of airbag inflators manufactured by Takata, in which tens of millions of cars from 19 different manufacturers worldwide were recalled. Honda was one of 19 manufacturers to equip their cars with defective inflators, which have been linked to over 20 deaths and many other injuries.
What was Honda’s most surprising moment?
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Forget the NSX, this is actually the most expensive Honda.
Honda will try pretty much anything, but most people were still surprised when it announced it was building a small private jet in 2005. But the HondaJet was actually a long time coming. Its development went back to secret research and development projects in the mid-1980s. Honda followed the project seriously from 1997 and finally delivered its first aircraft to customers in late 2015.
Cost over 4 million pounds The HondaJet (268 million pesetas each) is a very clever part of the kit. Instead of the fuselage, the engines are mounted on pylons that extend upward from the wings. This increases cabin space and improves aerodynamic efficiency, which in turn means the HondaJet can fly faster and higher than similar jets while using less fuel. It’s really modern.
What’s the best concept that Honda has built?
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Honda has come up with some notable concepts over the years. For us four stand out.
In 2003 the HSC concept arrived as the first generation NSX neared the end of its 15 year life. It was an obvious successor – a center-mount two-seater sports car 3.5 liter naturally aspirated engine and compact dimensions. But when the first-generation NSX finally sniffed it in 2005, there was no immediate successor.
Honda had clearly decided against the series production of the HSC and instead developed a V10 NSX with a front engine. It was shown as that in 2007 Acura Advanced Sports Car Concept and apparently quite extensively developed. There are videos of it on YouTube throbbing around the Nürburgring. Unfortunately, that project was discontinued amid the global financial crisis, and the NSX wasn’t replaced by the mid-engined hybrid supercar until 2016, which is still with us.
The Honda Urban EV The 2017 concept was a triumph and was eventually produced as the Honda e. Similarly, the Sport EV concept was revealed just a few months later. It still has to be produced – we keep our fingers crossed that this is the case.
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Tell me an interesting fact about Honda
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Back in 2005, the Associated Press reported that Honda had been exporting soybeans from the US to Japan since 1986. The soybeans were shipped to Japan in containers that came with auto parts to the US so Honda wouldn’t have to send them back empty. In 2004, Honda allegedly made it $ 10 million (477 million pesetas) included. But are they still doing it? We asked the question …
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NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor changes were made.
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