One of the biggest automobile companies in the world, Honda Motors has a legacy that is nothing short of marvellous. Recently, the automobile giant was reported to be considering building an electric vehicle plant in Canada in a near-2 trillion yen ($13.83 billion) project. This would be the biggest investment that Honda has ever made. This speaks volumes about the standing the company has in the automobile industry today and hence it becomes imperative to talk about the man who started it all.
The foundation of this multinational company was laid by Soichiro Honda of Japan. Soichiro was not born with a silver spoon and had to work his way up to reach the pinnacle of success. Born into the family of a poor blacksmith, Sichiro even worked as a cleaner in a garage to make ends meet at one point in time. Even after he started his own business, his factory was destroyed in the World War and he had to start from scratch. Let us know more about Soichiro’s inspiring journey.
On November 17, 1906, Soichiro Honda was born in Kōmyō village, Iwata District, Shizuoka, close to Hamamatsu. During his early years, he assisted his blacksmith father Gihei Honda in running his bicycle repair company. Mika Honda, his mother, was a weaver at the time. Honda showed no interest in conventional schooling and left his studies at the age of 16.
When he came across an advertisement for a mechanic at Artshokai car company in Tokyo, he reached there but was instead given a cleaner’s job in one of the garages. Even while working as a cleaner, Soichiro built up a good rapport with the mechanics and learned the craft from them.
After observing his commitment, the business owner assigned him management of the second garage. It was where racing automobiles were fixed. There, Saichiro Honda worked with the business owner to create a racing automobile. The original race car was nothing spectacular. However, the second one performed remarkably well, winning the 1924 Japanese auto race. He stayed employed at the Art Shokai Company for several years after that.
A racing accident in 1936 left Soichiro hospitalized for quite a few months. After recovery, he also formed a company with a friend to make piston rings while still being employed. In 1939, he left Art Shokai. He contacted many automobile giants to sell his piston rings. He managed to get Toyota as a client but the product failed the quality test and was rejected. Soichiro then worked better on the piston rings and came up with a better quality, which was accepted by Toyota.
He opened a piston ring manufacturing company in Hamamatsu city. This was an automated plant. 2,000 employees worked in it. But, during the Second World War, his factory was completely destroyed in an American air attack. After this, their second unit also collapsed due to the earthquake. Honda sold the remaining machines of its factory to Toyota Company for 45000 yen. In 1946, Honda Technical Research Institute was established with this money.
In 1949, he named his company Honda Motors. He built generator engine-operated bicycles as cycles were the main mode of transport in Japan after the devastation of the war. After this, he launched a fuel-efficient and lightweight bike named Super Cub. It became a huge hit. He set foot in America in the 1960s. By 1964, every other bike on the road in America was a Honda. Soichiro Honda made the first car in 1963, the T360 mini truck. Shichiro Honda died in 1991. At that time the net worth of Honda Motors was 92 billion dollars. He had more than 150 patents in his name.
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