Honda headlamps

Honda Motor Company, Ltd. (本田技研工業株式会社, Honda Giken Kōgyō Kabushiki-gaisha?, Honda Technology Research Institute Company, Limited) Honda_giken_kougyou.ogg listen (help·info) (TYO: 7267 NYSE: HMC) is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Japan.

The company manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, scooters, robots, jets and jet engines, ATV, water craft, electrical generators, marine engines, lawn and garden equipment, and aeronautical and other mobile technologies. Honda's line of luxury cars are branded Acura in North America. More recently they have ventured into mountain bikes.

Honda is headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Their shares trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, as well as exchanges in Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Kyoto, Fukuoka, London, Paris and Switzerland. American Honda Motor Co. is based in Torrance, California. Honda Canada Inc. is headquartered in the Scarborough district of Toronto, Ontario, and is building new corporate headquarters in Markham, Ontario, scheduled to relocate in 2008headlamps; their manufacturing division, Honda of Canada Manufacturing, is based in Alliston, Ontario. Honda has also created joint ventures around the world, such as Honda Siel Cars and Hero Honda Motorcycles in India , Guangzhou Honda and Dongfeng Honda in China, and Honda Atlas in Pakistan.

With high fuel prices and a weak US economy in June 2008, Honda has reported a 1% sales increase while its rivals, including the Detroit Big Three and Toyota, have reported double-digit losses. Honda's sales were up almost 20 percent from the same month last year. The Civic and the Accord were in the top five list of sales.headlampsheadlamps Analysts have attributed this to two main factors. First, Honda's product lineup consists of mostly small to mid-size, highly fuel-efficient vehicles. Secondly, over the last ten years, Honda has designed its factories to be flexible, in that they can be easily retooled to produce any Honda model that may be in-demand at the moment.

Honda is the 6th largest automobile manufacturer in the world as well as 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 4th largest automobile manufacturer in the United States. Currently, Honda is the second largest manufacturer in Japan behind Toyota and ahead of Nissan.headlampsheadlamps

Honda, Nissan, and Toyota, three of the strongest vehicle companies in the world, were still not immune to the global financial crisis of 2008, as these companies reduced their profitability forecasts. The economic crisis has been spreading to other important players in the vehicle related industries as well. headlampsheadlamps

Honda spends about 5% of its revenues into R&D. headlamps

In October 1946, Soichiro Honda established the Honda Technical Research Institute in Hamamatsu, Japan, to develop and produce small 2-cycle motorbike engines. Two years later, Honda Motor Company, Ltd. was born, and in 1959 Honda opened its first storefront in Los Angeles with six industrious employees. This first store front location closed April 25 2009 due to declined sales. Furthermore, Langley B.C. Honda will shutting down its Honda of Canada operations effective April 2009.headlamps

The first production automobile from Honda was the T360 mini pick-up truck.headlamps Powered by a small 356 cc straight-4 gasoline engine, it was classified under the cheaper Kei car tax bracket.headlamps

The first production car from Honda was the S500 sports car.headlamps Its chain driven rear wheels points to Honda's motorcycle origins.headlamps

Automobiles

The Honda Civic is a line of compact cars developed and manufactured by Honda. In North America, the Civic is the second-longest continuously-running nameplate from a Japanese manufacturer; only the Toyota Corolla, introduced in 1968, has been in production longer.headlamps The Civic, along with the Accord and Prelude, comprised Honda's vehicles sold in North America until the 1990s, when the model lineup was expanded. Having gone through several generational changes, the Civic has become larger and more upmarket, and it currently slots between the Fit and Accord.
2008 Honda Accord (USA spec)

Honda Automobiles is of the Big Asian Four (with Toyota, Nissan and Hyundai).headlamps

The 2006 Ridgeline was a reintroduction of the concept of a Uni-Body truck. Earlier examples of this concept are the Subaru Brat and Baja, Volkswagen Rabbit pick-up, and Dodge Rampage/Plymouth Scamp.

Honda increased global production in September 2008 to meet demand for small cars in the U.S. and emerging markets. The company is shuffling U.S. production to keep factories busy and boost car output, while building fewer minivans and sport utility vehicles as light truck sales fall.headlamps

Honda produces the Insight, an affordable hybrid electric vehicle that competes with Toyota Prius

Honda entered Formula One as a constructor for the first time in the 1964 season at the German Grand Prix with Ronnie Bucknum at the wheel. 1965 saw the addition of Richie Ginther to the team, who scored Honda's first point at the Belgian Grand Prix, and Honda's first win at the Mexican Grand Prix. 1967 saw their next win at the Italian Grand Prix with John Surtees as their driver. In 1968, Jo Schlesser was killed in a Honda RA302 at the French Grand Prix. This racing tragedy, coupled with their commercial difficulties selling automobiles in the United States, prompted Honda to withdraw from all international motorsport that year.

After a learning year in 1965, Honda-powered Brabhams dominated the 1966 French Formula Two championship in the hands of Jack Brabham and Denny Hulme. As there was no European Championship that season, this was the top F2 championship that year. In the early 1980s Honda returned to F2, supplying engines to Ron Tauranac's Ralt team. Tauranac had designed the Brabham cars for their earlier involvement. They were again extremely successful. In a related exercise, John Judd's Engine Developments company produced a turbo "Brabham-Honda" engine for use in IndyCar racing. It won only one race, in 1988 for Bobby Rahal at Pocono.

Honda returned to Formula One in 1983, 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. WilliamsF1 won the crown in 1986 and 1987. Honda switched allegiance again in 1988. New partners Team McLaren won the title in 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991. Honda withdrew from Formula One at the end of 1992, although the related Mugen-Honda company maintained a presence up to the end of 1999, winning four races with Ligier and Jordan Grand Prix.

Honda debuted in the CART IndyCar World Series as a works supplier in 1994. The engines were far from competitive at first, but after development, the company powered six consecutive drivers championships. In 2003, Honda transferred its effort to the rival IRL IndyCar Series. In 2004, Honda-powered cars overwhelmingly dominated the IndyCar Series, winning 14 of 16 IndyCar races, including the Indianapolis 500, and claimed the IndyCar Series Manufacturers' Championship, Drivers' Championship and Rookie of the Year titles. In 2006, Honda became the sole engine supplier for the IndyCar Series, including the Indianapolis 500. In the 2006 Indianapolis 500, for the first time in Indianapolis 500 history, the race was run without a single engine problem.headlamps

During 1998, Honda considered returning to Formula One with their own team. The project was aborted after the death of its technical director, Harvey Postlethwaite. Honda instead came back as an official engine supplier to British American Racing (BAR) and Jordan Grand Prix. Honda bought a stake in the BAR team in 2004 before buying the team outright at the end of 2005, becoming a constructor for the first time since the 1960s. Honda won the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix with driver Jenson Button.

It was announced on 5 December 2008 that Honda would be exiting Formula One with immediate effect due to the 2008 global economic crisis.headlamps The team was sold to former team principal Ross Brawn and renamed Brawn GP.headlamps

Compressed natural gas

The Honda Civic GX is the only natural gas vehicle (NGV) commercially available in some parts of the US.headlamps The Honda Civic GX first appeared in 1998 as a factory-modified Civic LX that had been designed to run exclusively on compressed natural gas. The car looks and drives just like a contemporary Honda Civic LX, but does not run on gasoline. In 2001, the Civic GX was rated the cleanest-burning internal combustion engine in the world by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency‎ (EPA).headlampsheadlamps

First leased to the City of Los Angeles, in 2005, Honda started offering the GX directly to the public through factory trained dealers certified to service the GX. Before that, only fleets were eligible to purchase a new Civic GX. In 2006, the Civic GX was released in New York, making it the second state where the consumer is able to buy the car.headlamps Home refueling is available for the GX with the addition of the Phill Home Refueling Appliance.headlamps

Flexible-fuel

Honda's Brazilian subsidiary launched flexible-fuel versions for the Honda Civic and Honda Fit in late 2006. As others Brazilian flex-fuel vehicles, these models run on any blend of hydrous ethanol (E100) and E20-E25 gasoline.headlampsheadlamps Initially, and in order to test the market preferences, the carmaker decided to produce a limited share of the vehicles with flex-fuel engines, 33 percent of the Civic production and 28 percent of the Fit models.headlampsheadlamps Also, the sale price for the flex-fuel version was higher than the respective gasoline versions, around US$ 1,000 premium for the Civic, and US$ 650 for the Fit, despite the fact that all other flex-fuel vehicles sold in Brazil had the same tag price as their gasoline versions.headlampsheadlampsheadlamps

During the last two months of 2006, both flex-fuel models sold 2,427 cars against 8,546 gasoline-powered automobiles,headlamps jumping to 41,990 flex-fuel cars in 2007,headlamps and reaching 93,361 in 2008.headlamps Due to the success of the flex versions, by early 2009 a hundred percent of Honda's automobile production for the Brazilian market is now flexible-fuel, and only a small percentage of gasoline version is produced in Brazil for exports.headlamps

In March 2009 Honda launched in the Brazilian market the first flex-fuel motorcycle in the world. Produced by its Brazilian subsidiary Moto Honda da Amazônia, the CG 150 Titan Mix is sold for around US$2,700.headlampsheadlampsheadlamps

Hybrid electric

Honda launched in late 1999 the first commercial hybrid electric car sold in the US market , the Honda Insight, just one month before the introduction of the Toyota Prius, and initially sold for USD 20,000.headlampsheadlamps The first-generation Insight was produced from 2000 to 2006 and had a fuel economy of 70 miles per US gallon (3.4 L/100 km; 84 mpg-imp) for the EPA's highway rating, the most fuel-efficient mass-produced car at the time.headlampsheadlamps Total global sales for the Insight amounted to only around 18,000 vehicles.headlamps

Honda introduced the second-generation Insight in its home nation of Japan in February 2009, with release in other markets to expected through 2009 the U.S. market will receive the new Insight in April 2009. At USD 19,800 as a five-door hatchback it will be the least expensive hybrid available in the US.headlamps Honda expects to sell 200,000 of the vehicles each year, with half of those sales in the United States.headlamps

Honda has also been selling since 2002 the Honda Civic Hybrid (2003 model) in the US market,headlamps. It was followed by the Honda Accord Hybrid, offered in model years 2005 through 2007. Honda is also planning to introduce a hybrid version of its Fit headlamps, as well as another unique small hybrid vehicle based on the CR-Z sports car concept that it introduced at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show.headlamps

Hydrogen fuel cell

In Takanezawa, Japan, on June 16, 2008, Honda Motors produced the first assembly-line FCX Clarity, a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. More efficient than a hybrid vehicle, the FCX Clarity combines hydrogen and oxygen from ordinary air to generate electricity for an electric motor.

The vehicle itself does not emit any pollutants and its only byproducts are heat and water. The FCX Clarity also has an advantage over hybrids in that it does not use an internal combustion engine to propel itself. Like a hybrid, it uses a lithium ion battery to assist the fuel cell during acceleration and capture energy through regenerative breaking, thus improving fuel efficiency. The lack of hydrogen filling stations throughout developed countries will keep production volumes low. headlamps Honda will release the vehicle in groups of 150. California is the only US market with infrastructure for fueling such vehicle, though the number of stations is still limited. Building more stations are expensive, as CARB granted $6.8 million for four H2 fueling stations, costing $1.7 million USD each. headlamps headlamps

US Honda headlamp models
Cars Accord Civic Fit S2000
Energy/Hybrid/Other Civic Hybrid FCX Clarity Insight
SUVs Pilot Element
Trucks Ridgeline
Crossovers Honda CR-V
Vans Honda Odyssey