TOKYO – Yes! That is how many vehicles Honda Motor Co., Ltd. has produced since it began automobile production in 1963!
The Japanese automaker known for its Accords, Civics, CR-Vs, Odysseys as well as motorcycles, jets and ASIMO robots, announced the milestone today.
Honda began automobile production in 1963 with the production of the T360 mini-truck, Honda’s first mass-production model, at Saitama Factory. In the same year, Honda began production of the S500 small-sized sports car at Hamamatsu Factory in Shizuoka Prefecture.
In 1964, in order to move forward with full-scale automobile production, Honda employed all of the company’s production technologies and know-how and constructed the first Honda plant dedicated to automobile production, Sayama Factory in Sayama City, Saitama Prefecture. The new plant began with production of the S600 small-sized sports car.
In 1967, Honda began production of the N360, Honda’s first mini-vehicle model. Since then Honda has been increasing its cumulative production volume while enhancing the product lineup, with key global models including Civic, Accord, CR-V and Fit enjoyed by customers all around the world. Further, regional models have been developed to accommodate the unique characteristics of the regions where each model is sold.
In 1969, Honda began production of the N600 small-sized passenger car and TN360 mini-truck in Taiwan by signing a technical collaboration agreement with a local company, which became Honda’s first automobile production outside Japan. Moreover, in order to increase international competitiveness, Honda entered overseas markets on its own and began production of Accord in Ohio, in the U.S. in 1982, which became Honda’s first automobile production by its own local subsidiary outside of Japan. This Accord became the first passenger car produced in the U.S. by a Japanese automaker.
Guided by an approach of “building products close to the customer” and striving for the timely offering of products that accommodate the needs of customers all around the world, Honda expanded its automobile production operations to different regions of the world including Asia, Europe, South America and China. In recent years, Honda has been pursuing the establishment of a flexible and mutually complementary production system which utilizes Honda’s 34 automobile production operations in 18 countries and territories. Through these initiatives, Honda reached the 100 million-unit milestone in cumulative automobile production in September 2016, the 54th year since the company started automobile production.
“Thanks to the support from our customers around the world, Honda was able to deliver 100 million automobiles. The passion of our company founder who wanted to help people in their daily lives and pursue the joy of driving has been inherited by Honda associates as the original starting point of Honda automobile manufacturing. Striving to meet the next 100 million customers, Honda will continue delivering increasingly attractive products,” said Takahiro Hachigo, president, CEO and representative director of Honda in a statement.
Honda’s major milestones toward the production of its 100,000,000th vehicle:
1948
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. established
1963
Production of the T360 mini-truck started at Saitama Factory
1969
Production of N600 and TN360 by component parts sets started in Taiwan. (Honda’s first overseas auto production)
Production of N360 started in Malaysia
1975
Production of Civic and other models started in Indonesia
1978
Cumulative worldwide production of automobiles reached 5 million units
1982
Production of Accord started in the U.S.
1983
Cumulative worldwide production of automobiles reached 10 million units
1984
Production of Accord started in Thailand
1986
Production of Accord started in Canada
1990
Cumulative worldwide production of automobiles reached 20 million units
1992
Production of Accord started in the U.K.
1994
Production of Civic started in Pakistan
1995
Cumulative worldwide production of automobiles reached 30 million units;
Production of Accord started in Mexico
1997
Production of Civic started in Brazil and Turkey; Production of City started in India
1999
Cumulative worldwide production of automobiles reached 40 million units;
Production of Accord started in China
2003
Cumulative worldwide production of automobiles reached 50 million units
2015
Production of Accord started in Nigeria
2016
Cumulative worldwide production of automobiles reached 100 million units
Source: Honda
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