Honda history

Honda Motor Co. was incorporated on Sept. 24, 1948. The company was founded by Soichiro Honda, who formed the Honda Technical Research Institute in Hamamatsu, Japan, in 1946 to develop and produce internal combustion engines and machine tools. Honda’s first original motorized product -- a two-stroke Dream D-type motorcycle -- debuted in 1949, and the company’s first general-purpose engine was produced in 1952.