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Honda Commemorates 50
Years of Innovation in America
TORRANCE, Calif., June 11, 2009 – Honda
(NYSE: HMC) today marked its first 50 years in
America, commemorating the establishment of
American Honda Motor Co., Inc., in a small Los
Angeles storefront on June 11, 1959. Honda
associates observed the occasion with a brief
ceremony at the company’s Torrance, Calif.
headquarters.
“On behalf of the tens of thousands of Honda
associates in America, past and present, we
offer our deepest thanks to our customers for
placing their trust in Honda over the past 50
years,” said American Honda President & CEO
Tetsuo Iwamura. “Today, in the face of new
challenges, including the preservation of our
environment, we renew our commitment to exceed
the expectations of our customers and society.”
Starting in 1959, with the fuel-efficient
Honda 50 motorcycle, to the newly launched 2010
Honda Insight gas-electric hybrid vehicle, Honda
has introduced new technologies and business
strategies that have shaped the industry and the
growth of Honda, including:
- First automaker to meet U.S. Clean Air
Act without a catalytic converter –Civic
CVCC (1974)
- First vehicle to top U.S. EPA list of
most fuel efficient cars – Civic (1977)
- First Japanese automaker to build
motorcycles (1979) and automobiles (1982) in
America – Marysville, Ohio*
- First Japanese automaker to establish a
luxury automobile brand -- Acura (1986)
- First mass produced gas electric hybrid
car introduced in America -- Insight (1999)
- First government-certified hydrogen fuel
cell vehicle -- FCX (2002)
A shareable historical timeline with
additional milestones is available at:
http://corporate.honda.com/america/timeline.aspx
*using domestic and globally sourced parts
Honda has steadily expanded its U.S. presence
to encompass a broad range of products and
operations. Today, Honda employs more than
27,000 U.S. associates engaged in the design,
development, manufacturing, sale and servicing
of Honda and Acura products including
automobiles, motorcycles, ATVs, personal water
craft, power equipment, and an advanced light
jet.
Honda operates 10 U.S. manufacturing plants
with two new plants under construction, along
with 14 R&D facilities and more than 12 regional
sales, parts and service, and finance offices
around the country. The company’s network of
U.S. parts suppliers comprises 545 companies in
34 states with annual purchases exceeding $17.5
billion in 2008.
Honda History in America
American Honda was the first overseas subsidiary
of Honda Motor Co., Ltd., established eleven
years after HMC’s inception as a small
motorcycle manufacturer in Japan. Honda entered
the U.S. market in 1959 with the step-through
Honda 50 motorcycle and helped spur the dramatic
growth of the U.S. motorcycle market, as it
became the best-selling brand in America.
The introduction of the fuel-efficient Civic
in 1973 paved the way for Honda’s entry into the
U.S. auto industry. As America faced the first
oil crisis in 1973 and then the U.S. Clean Air
Act tightened air emissions standards in 1975,
Civic became both the first automobile to meet
the Clean Air Act without the need for a
catalytic converter and was ranked number one on
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s first
list of America’s most fuel efficient cars
(1977).
Based on its longstanding commitment to
develop and build products close to the
customer, Honda established research and
development operations in America in 1975, and
U.S. manufacturing in 1979, starting with
production of motorcycles in Marysville, Ohio.
Honda became the first Japanese automaker to
build cars in America with the start of Accord
production at the Marysville Auto Plant in
November 1982. In May 2009, Honda reached the 15
million unit milestone in U.S. automobile
production.
In 1986, the company expanded into the luxury
automobile market with the creation of the Acura
brand, the first luxury nameplate from a
Japanese automaker.
Acura earned a top rating in J.D. Power and
Associates’ Customer Satisfaction Index for four
consecutive years (1986-1989).
In the 1990s, Honda introduced the U.S.
automobile industry’s first low-emissions
vehicles, meeting challenging new emissions
requirements in California while also enhancing
fuel efficiency. In 1999, Honda introduced
America’s first mass production hybrid vehicle,
the Insight, followed in 2002 by the Honda FCX,
the first fuel cell vehicle certified by the
U.S. government for daily use and the first to
be placed in the hands of an individual
consumer.
In 2008, the company began leasing its
next-generation FCX Clarity fuel cell sedan, the
industry’s most advanced zero-emissions vehicle.
In March 2009 Honda introduced the 2010 Honda
Insight, America’s most affordable hybrid, with
plans to launch another all-new hybrid within
the next several years based on the company’s
sporty CR-Z hybrid concept vehicle.
“Looking to the future, we are committed to
advancing Honda’s legacy of environmental
leadership to help address the twin challenges
of global climate change and energy
sustainability,” said Iwamura. “Along with a
renewed focus on quality, we begin our next
fifty years by accelerating our efforts to
develop and deploy new technologies that put
Honda at the forefront of this global challenge,
to create a cleaner and more sustainable future
for generations to come.”
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