That every organization has a culture rooted in its founder is both inevitable and endlessly fascinating. But some really stand out, few more than Honda Motors. PCH101 sent me this link to a 1963 profile of Soichiro Honda in the British newspaper The Guardian. In 1963, Honda was just about to really burst on the scene and revolutionize the motorcycle market in one of the most profound industrial transitions. And it also marks the first stirrings of Honda’s entering the automobile industry, as well as aviation (which obviously was deferred for almost fifty years). The early years of a successful new enterprise make for compelling stories, and this one is worth reading.
A fascinating read! Thanks Paul and PCH101 for the link!
This is a neat look back in time. I knew that Soichiro Honda was a self made man, and a true fanatic of anything that could be fitted with a gasoline engine. Engine design and research made his company what it was. First his motorcycles, then later his cars came on to the scene in North America at exactly the right time.
I think that if he was born in this country, we’d regard this man somewhere between Carroll Shelby and Henry Ford.
From what I know of him, Sochiro Honda may have been among the most “American” of Japanese executives in terms of his attitude. More scrappy and individualistic than driven by consensus and decorum as is the case with the culture from which he came.
Interestingly enough, Honda wasn’t yet quite in the car business at the time of this article; he started producing kei cars shortly thereafter, and wouldn’t be in the US car market for another seven years. His plans didn’t work out exactly as planned, but he came pretty close.
Agreed.
As I understand the article, he left school to work on motorcycles and build engines. Then started his own company to improve upon what was then available in Japan. Not an engineer, not an MBA. Just a very bright guy with a knack for making things run better. It’s the Japanese version of the blue-collar rags to riches American dream.
Haven’t had much luck with Honda cars but worship at the alter of Honda Motorcycle dependability. The difference is the subject of the article. I expect if he was still here some heads would have rolled in the automotive section.
I’ve heard all the positive Honda motorcycle stories, but my own experience is the mirror image of yours. If you want to see an Interceptor with a rod sticking through the block, or an XR cease to move for reasons that could never be diagnosed, or a CB puke out its ignition mechanism, or a new PA carburetor stop mixing fuel and air at 2,000 miles, I’m your man. My early brushes with their cars involved two wrecked CRX Si’s in one week and an early Accord that my legs barely fit in, so I kept my distance until being exposed to an S2000 about a decade ago. Since then, I’ve been positively spoiled by the sort of Honda automobiles that people say have lost the plot. Maybe they’re different than the ones of decades past, but their brilliant to someone coming out of twenty years of German cars when reunified Germany started building for the Chinese market.
I love the lore of Honda, and I’ve read everything I could find about their early F1 foray with Ritchie Ginther. Soichiro Honda had some strong opinions about what cars people should like, and they weren’t actually the ones that drowned Honda with glory in the ’70s. The Civic was in many ways far more conventional than the 1300 that Soichiro meant to crack export markets with.
Honda makes a damned good product and I find people that complain about them have never actually owned one or are full of crap. Every one I have owned drove great and felt like it was more than worth the price of admission.
And yes, they are much easier to live with than a post-reunification German car.
Sorry Canucklehead. I have owned Honda cars but occasionally you are right, I am full of crap. I owned Honda motorcycles in the sixties and seventies and they ran forever. Must say that I respect CJinSD’s comment a bit more than yours as he is relating his own experiences (as you are) but you are also trying to stereotype mine. My experience also includes Honda cars. The early ones were excellent but starting in the eighties in my life they were money pits. My granddaughter just bought an accord that immediately puked head gaskets and an automatic transmission. I try to avoid European vehicles because they seem to be full of electric gremlins. Normally I buy japanese or american.
Haven’t owned a Toyota but would like to. Nissan has provided me with a lot of service and pleasure as has Mazda. Honda will need to improve some to get my money again. I understand that is happening but they will have to wait their turn. I just looked in the mirror and my eyes are not brown this morning so I stand behind what I say.
Anecdotes are not data.
The issue isn’t whether you personally got or didn’t get a lemon, but whether overall, Honda produce lemons at a lower rate than the norm. And generally speaking, that has been the case.
Someone has to get the lemons, and it’s understandably annoying if you are one of those people. But that doesn’t change the broader point that it’s the totality of the result, and not just one person’s result, that matters.
I cannot let that one pass. I’ve read enough forums to know that I am far from the only one to feel as I do. I respect that you feel differently and one of the things that marks this site is the respect we have for one another’s opinion in matters that are opinion.
People who are unhappy tell others. People who are happy tell far fewer. You say: “Someone has to get the lemons, and it’s understandably annoying if you are one of those people. But that doesn’t change the broader point that it’s the totality of the result, and not just one person’s result, that matters.”
Anecdotes become lost sales and my experience has sold a lot of cars for other brands. You really cannot have a decent discussion with folks who do not respect your opinion or feel you are full of crap. Therefore, I’m bailing out. have a nice day.
The point remains that statistical data consistently shows Honda cars to be, on the whole, more reliable than the norm.
Being better than the norm doesn’t mean that all of the cars are perfect. But it does mean that the ratio of good-to-bad is higher than it is for virtually all of Honda’s competitors.
And I say that as someone who drives a German car, and who has never owned a Honda.
The reason why Honda is so interesting is that he went against the Japanese Government.
the Japanese are known for their conformity, see a Formula 1 race, for example and people wave their flags in exact unison, without spontaneity ,It’s uncanny really.
But , anyhow Honda was told by the Japanese Government NOT to build cars..
But Honda didn’t conform to the Japanese Government..An unheard of thing in Japanese culture.
Great companies are formed by great individuals..When these individuals pass on the reigns, these companies invariably suffer.Honda need to rediscover the magic of Soichiro.
I remember seeing an Orange Honda 600 Coupe on display at college in 1972 or 1973. It was the smallest car I had ever seen at that time.
There was a Ford-Honda dealership where a friend of mine worked, in the Ford side they had a 65 Mustang coupe in the showroom and on the Honda side they had a 71 Honda 600 coupe, in yellow, it is so tiny, you really dont get the scale of one until you stand next to it in person. They had a reprint of the original window sticker, those things were cheap, I think it was only around $1600, a Pinto or Maverick was close to $2000.
An orange 600 Honda was the first Japanese car I recall seeing around 1974.My Dad had many Honda cars which were reliable and stood the UK climate well.I had a Honda 500/4 bike which was a good all rounder apart from the 4 silencers rusting out inside 18 months.
Never owned a Honda car; I’ve admired them from a distance. Nearly bought a Gen1 Civic (a bullet dodged; I lived in Midwest salt country).
I’ve had two Honda cycles – neither one a long time. I find they’re conservative in engineering and parsimonious in support.
The first one, was the old Silver Wing. The mini-Gold Wing; the CX500 redux. An alleged entry-level touring cycle; for its time, 1982-83, it was a big bike.
Bought it used a few years ago – and cheap. There was NO support; and the brakes, including the rear DRUM BRAKE (nearly everyone else had abandoned drums by this time) needed parts that just weren’t made.
This wasn’t like Honda, so said the cycle gurus; but the Silver Wing was an expensive dud for the company. Designed for the fuel crisis it just missed, it wasn’t selling; while Gold Wings were rolling down the highway in record numbers.
I sold that bike. For half its value – but who would buy an old bike with no parts and no interest in supplying them?
The other Honda…a novelty machine; a Big Ruckus scooter. An end-of-the-world urban scooter that looks for all the world like a transistorized minibike.
Has a 249cc engine in it; and while other 250 scooters can do highway speeds, this one…can barely. I have a Chinese scooter with a 260 engine in it; wheels only an inch taller; but it does the freeway just fine. When it runs.
The Big Ruckus always starts, which is saying something for a carbureted engine. But it’s weak as a kitten; and it’s only got 6000 cared-for miles on it.
And it has those infernal drum rear brakes! Honda was STILL using those for their Nighthawk 250s up until two years ago.
So, in terms of satisfaction, Honda is a mixed bag. In the modern era, the ’80s to today, Honda seems overly conservative, cautious, miserly and inadventurous.
Companies can have a life cycle just like people.