Honda Motor Company Limited
24 September 1948 is the date when the Honda Technical Research Institute officially became Honda Motor Company Limited. Although the company had been incorporated, none of the employees were aware of it for quite some time. Soichiro did this deliberately because he wanted the work to continue without any interruption.
Honda Motor Company Ltd. first product was the Dream D-type, a bike powered by a 98-cc, single-cylinder, two-stroke motor mated to a two-speed transmission. In just two years, sales of the Dream D-type had skyrocketed to 3,500 units, and sales continued to grow. The year 1950 was also when Takeo Fujisawa joined Honda Motor Company to take care of sales and strategy. Soichiro liked the way Fujisawa contributed to increasing sales and building the company from a business point of view. Both of them got along quite well with some referring to this relationship as a business match made in heaven.
As the sales of the Dream D-type peaked, Honda needed a new product that would be more versatile than the Dream D-type. Soichiro summoned Kawashima to design a new engine that fit the bill. Kawashima quickly got to work and built a new 146-cc motor, which was then fitted into a new frame. The bike was tested on the infamous Hakone Pass; a challenge even for powerful trucks at the time, and it performed flawlessly. This was the new Honda E-type, a bike that quickly replaced the D-type to become Honda’s new best-seller.
After the E-type, Honda launched a slew of products in Japan and, by 1954, the company had a nice line-up of bikes. As sales grew, Honda Motor Company became number one in Japan. However, the facilities were in desperate need of an upgrade. Soichiro then invested half the company’s worth in upgrading the machinery, and the factory. This was also the time when Honda really took wings and spread their empire beyond Japan. Soichiro often said, “If you’re not the number one in the world, you can’t be number one in Japan.”
New and updated, Honda were on the right path to become the world’s largest motorcycle makers, producing iconic bikes such as the Super Cub, CB750, CBR series, Goldwing, numerous racing motorcycles, and much more.
In just two years, sales of the Dream D-type had skyrocketed to 3,500 units, and sales continued to grow I just wouldn’t give in, no way.” —Soichiro Honda