45 Fun Facts About Honda

After WWII, Honda's new company first fitted surplus generator engines to what?

Bicycles; Honda later built its sales network by getting Japan's bicycle shops to sell its engines and motorbikes.

What did Soichiro Honda's prewar company Tōkai Seiki make for Toyota?

Piston rings; when his early rings failed, Honda went back to engineering school to learn the science behind them.

Why was Honda's first engine, the A-Type, nicknamed the "Bata Bata"?

The sound it made; when Honda's supply of surplus Tohatsu engines ran out, he built his own copy, the A-Type.

Which business partner handled finance and marketing alongside Soichiro Honda until 1973?

Takeo Fujisawa; he and Soichiro Honda agreed never to bring their own children into the company.

What was Honda's first production automobile?

T360 kei truck; Honda had been developing sports cars, but a senior executive argued most demand was for work vehicles, so a truck came first.

Which Honda is the most-produced motor vehicle in history, passing 100 million units in 2017?

Super Cub; it was designed so a soba noodle delivery rider could work it with one hand while balancing a tray in the other.

Honda's 1960s US ads 'You meet the nicest people on a Honda' set out to counter which image?

The outlaw biker; the ads pitched Honda's little step-through as everyday transport for ordinary citizens, not a machine for men in black leather.

Which luxury brand did Honda launch in March 1986, the first from a Japanese automaker?

Acura; Honda planned to bring the brand to Japan, but dropped the plan during the 2008 financial crisis.

Which 1990 Honda sports car was the first production car with an all-aluminium semi-monocoque?

NSX; after testing a prototype, Formula One champion Ayrton Senna is said to have pushed Honda to stiffen its chassis.

What does the robot name ASIMO stand for?

Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility; in 2002 ASIMO rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

Honda sized its ASIMO robot so it could reach what?

Light switches; yet the stair-climbing robot was caught on camera toppling down stairs during public demonstrations.

When ASIMO retired, what did Honda say it would focus on instead?

Avatar robots, steered by a person from far away; Honda pictures an on-call doctor logging into the nearest one to treat an emergency.

Where are the HondaJet's two turbofan engines unusually mounted?

On pylons above the wing; moving the engines off the rear fuselage removed their support structure inside, freeing a bigger cabin and cutting drag.

In which US city is the Honda Aircraft Company based?

Greensboro, North Carolina; Honda Aircraft grew out of a research site Honda set up beside Piedmont Triad International Airport.

Designer Michimasa Fujino said the HondaJet's nose was inspired by what?

Honda began sketching the jet in 1997 and finally delivered the first one in December 2015.

At which 1965 race did Honda take its first Formula One victory?

Mexican Grand Prix; American driver Richie Ginther led every lap, in only Honda's second season, for his and Honda's first Formula One win.

Which driver won the 2021 Formula One title with Honda power at Red Bull?

Max Verstappen; Honda had already announced in October 2020 that it would quit Formula One after 2021 to focus on carbon neutrality.

Which team did Honda rejoin Formula One with as a works power-unit partner in 2026?

Aston Martin; Honda confirmed the works deal in May 2023, drawn back to Formula One by the more sustainable engine rules arriving in 2026.

Which racing series did Honda alone supply engines for from 2006 to 2011?

IndyCar; both rival engine makers pulled out after 2005, so every car in the field, even at the Indianapolis 500, ran on Honda power.

Which famous Japanese race track, opened in 1962, does Honda own?

Suzuka Circuit; Formula One's Japanese Grand Prix moved to rival Fuji Speedway in 2007 and 2008, then returned to Suzuka from 2009.

Which rider won the 250cc world title on Honda's six-cylinder RC166 in both 1966 and 1967?

Mike Hailwood; when Honda quit Grand Prix racing after 1967, he switched to four wheels and went on to race in Formula One.

Who won Honda's first 500 cc Grand Prix world championship in 1983?

Freddie Spencer; wrist injuries soon cut his career short, and he announced his retirement from Grand Prix racing in 1988.

What was unusual about the cylinders of Honda's 1979 NR500 racing bike?

They were oval, making room for eight valves per cylinder, but the complex four-stroke never won a Grand Prix and Honda switched to two-strokes.

Which 1969 Honda is regarded as the first motorcycle to be called a "superbike"?

CB750; doubting demand, Honda first skipped costly die-cast tooling for its engine cases, until orders flooded in.

In which Ohio town were Gold Wing touring motorcycles assembled from 1980 to 2010?

Marysville; no Gold Wings were built for the 2011 model year while production moved from Ohio to Kumamoto, Japan.

Which rival is the only Japanese nameplate to outlast the Civic continuously in North America?

Toyota Corolla; it was Japan's best-selling car for over three decades until a Honda, the Fit, finally outsold it in 2002.

According to Honda, what does "CR-V" stand for?

Comfortable Runabout Vehicle; yet Honda UK's own website reprinted a newspaper review saying the initials stood for Compact Recreational Vehicle.

Which Honda became the first hybrid car sold in the US, in December 1999?

Insight; to reach its record fuel economy, Honda made it a light, slippery two-seater with only a small luggage area.

Which Honda won Motor Trend's Truck of the Year award for 2006?

Ridgeline; Honda later halted production, then brought the pickup back as an all-new second generation in 2016.

The S2000 roadster was launched in April 1999 to celebrate which Honda milestone?

50th anniversary; its S name carried on the tradition of Honda's 1960s S500, S600 and S800 roadsters.

As revs climb, what does Honda's VTEC engine system switch between?

Two camshaft profiles; the idea is said to have come to an engineer watching negima skewers at a yakitori bar, where some pieces turned and others didn't.

The boxy Element's styling was inspired by what structure?

A lifeguard station; after Dogcars.com named it Dog Car of the Year in 2007, Honda built a dog-friendly package for it.

The folding Motocompo scooter was designed to fit in the trunk of which Honda?

City; Honda developed the two side by side and launched them together in 1981, shaping the City's luggage space around the folding scooter.

Which British ska band starred in Honda's Japanese TV ads for the little Motocompo scooter?

Madness; the band recorded an original song for the campaign, yet the scooter sold poorly.

Honda's 2003 "Cog" advert built a chain-reaction machine from parts of which model?

Accord; its chain reaction echoed Fischli and Weiss's art film The Way Things Go, and the artists, who had turned down ad offers, objected.

Honda's tagline 'Isn't it nice when things just work?' was voiced by which radio storyteller?

Garrison Keillor; the American radio host became the voice of Honda's UK ads and even sang the theme song of its 2004 cartoon 'Grrr'.

Which NHL team plays at the Honda Center?

Anaheim Ducks; Disney founded the team in 1993 as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, named after its 1992 film The Mighty Ducks.

Where in Japan is Honda's head office?

Tokyo; the company began near Hamamatsu, but later moved its head office to Tokyo.

In which California city is American Honda Motor Company based?

Torrance; unusually, Honda set up its own US sales company instead of relying on independent distributors, so it could handle service and spare parts.

Which English town was home to Honda's only UK car plant from 1985 until it closed in 2021?

Swindon; after the plant closed, logistics developer Panattoni bought the former Honda site.

In 2013 Honda became the first Japanese automaker to achieve what in the United States?

Net exporter status; it exported 108,705 vehicles and imported 88,357, five years after importing 187,000 and exporting just 20,000.

Which automaker signed, then abandoned, merger talks with Honda in 2024–25?

Nissan; the merger would have made the world's third-largest carmaker, but talks collapsed after Honda proposed making Nissan its subsidiary.

What brand name did Sony and Honda's electric-car joint venture give its cars?

Afeela; in March 2026 the venture scrapped plans to build and sell the cars and moved its staff back to Sony and Honda.

Under what name is the Honda Fit sold in Europe?

Jazz; Honda had planned to call the car Fitta, until it learned the name was crude slang in Scandinavian languages.

Under what name was the first-generation Odyssey minivan sold in Europe?

Shuttle; European sales suffered because it came with no manual gearbox, and Americans found the first model too small.