Honda builds its 100 millionth car

It all began with the introduction of the T360 mini-truck in August 1963. Picture: Honda

It all began with the introduction of the T360 mini-truck in August 1963. Picture: Honda

Published Dec 22, 2016

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Tokyo, Japan – Honda has just reached the huge milestone of 100 million cars in cumulative global production.

Soichiro Honda founded the company named after him in 1948 to make first clip-on engines for bicycles, and later complete motorcycles, with the stated intention of putting war-torn Japan back on wheels.

Honda began production of four-wheelers in 1963, with the introduction of the T360 mini-truck and S500 sports-car, but it wasn’t until the opening of its first dedicated car factory a year later at Sayama City in Saitama Prefecture, and the release of the iconic S600 roadster, that Honda car production really took off.

Five years later, the first Honda car plant outside Japan began assembling N600s and TN360s in Taiwan; cumulative production reached five million in 1978, 10 million in 1983, 20 million in 1990 and 50 million in 2003.

Today the company has 34 car plants on five continents, focusing on global models such as the Jazz hatch and Civic sedan, as well as the HR-V and CR-V SUVs and, of course, the NSX supercar.

IOL Motoring

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