Soichiro Honda | The Founder of Honda Motors

Soichiro Honda’s Birth (1906)

November 17, 1906, was an ordinary day for many people in Japan. But, it was also the birth of Soichiro Honda, who would change the automobile manufacturing industry.

Honda’s father was a blacksmith who owned a bicycle repair shop while his mother worked as a weaver. Since childhood, he became very interested in tools and machines and was particularly keen to learn how cars and vehicles worked, and how they are made.

When it came to academic learning, Honda had no interest in studying. Despite not getting much formal education, Honda was quickly developing his skills in his father’s workshop and had a genuine interest in machinery and engineering.

Tokyo Journey & Beginnings

One day he saw an ad in a newspaper for a car servicing company named Art Shukai – the ad said: ASSISTANT WANTED FOR AUTO REPAIR SHOP IN TOKYO. Soichiro had an exciting opportunity to learn more about vehicles and improve his knowledge of them as the Art Shukai Company was engaged in vehicle repair and maintenance. With this confidence, he took the most important decision of his life and left his village for Tokyo to work as a mechanic.

Moving from a small village to the busy streets of Tokyo was an intense experience but he made the right decision and managed to get an apprenticeship to work at the Art Shukai Garage.

Soichiro’s Early Career

Unfortunately on his first day, he was given the job of cleaning, scrubbing the dirty floors, and preparing meals for the owner. In fact, he would often end up babysitting the owner’s child.

Although this is not exactly what he had in mind. But he did not give up and continued to do his work and soon after joining the garage, an earthquake hit Tokyo, forcing many mechanics to leave work to repair their homes. The auto repair shop was now short of employees, and Honda finally got his chance, as he was asked to hire him as a mechanic.

Soon he made this position permanent through his hard work. Honda was eager to learn and spent his days repairing cars and motorcycles, where Honda was exposed to a very wide range of vehicles from all different manufacturers, further enhancing his knowledge. It was not long ago that Honda was not only repairing cars but also designing spare parts.

Racing Triumph (1924)

Realizing that Honda was doing very well for the company, Yuzo, one of the owners, personally trained Honda on the business side as well as the technical side. Yuzu was the perfect mentor for Honda and he introduced Honda to the world of motorsport.

In 1923, Yuzo decided to start producing his own racing car and asked Honda to help him build it. Their second model, named the “Curtiss”, won the 1924 Japanese Automobile Championship.

Sometime later, in 1928, his mentor, the owner of Art Shukai, gave him a chance and said that he wanted Honda to establish his own branch of Art Shukai in the Japanese town of Hamamatsu, near the village where Honda was born.

The Honda branch initially grew slowly. But he eventually established a good reputation in the area and by the mid-1930s he was able to hire an entire staff to help him. Honda makes a lot of money but he wasn’t satisfied with just repairing cars. It’s time for a new and bigger challenge.

First Business Launch (1928)

Honda saw great potential in the manufacturing sector and asked Art Shukai if he could turn the auto repair shop into a separate business where he would manufacture piston rings. Unfortunately, Art Shokai didn’t like the idea at all – the business was doing well and making a lot of money – they had no interest in stopping it and entering a completely new field, especially producing their own car parts rather than repairing them, seemed like a lot more risk and cost.

However Honda was determined to pursue his new vision, so he and a friend decided to go into business together, establishing their own business called Tokai Seiki Heavy Industry.

Manufacturing Breakthrough

At first, Honda still worked his days in his repair shop and then spent his nights working at the new car parts manufacturing company he had started, trying to make piston rings. He also took evening classes to improve his understanding of metals and alloys, and for two years, he worked tirelessly, until he reached a revolutionary piston design breakthrough in 1939.

They began producing pistons, and for the first time in a while, Honda felt truly passionate about its work again. But this excitement was short-lived, as they soon faced manufacturing challenges.

For example, they received an order from Toyota but of the thousands of pistons they ordered from the Honda company, only three passed Toyota’s high standards. This was a major setback, but Honda decided to visit universities and factories across Japan to further understand the manufacturing process and further develop his skills.

Eventually, he acquired enough knowledge and expertise that he was able to produce piston rings that passed Toyota’s quality standards. And even better, Honda found a way to mass-produce them using an automated process, which meant that even unskilled workers could produce them.

This meant that he was able to produce them in large numbers at a relatively low cost. Orders grew rapidly, and since Honda could not keep up with the demand in its workshop, it opened a factory to mass-produce piston rings.

Challenges During WWII

Unfortunately, just as Honda’s manufacturing business was really taking off, Japan was preparing for war. When Japan entered World War II in 1941, many of Honda’s male employees were called up for military service, leaving many vacancies at the Honda plant.

During the war, a Honda factory was bombed and a year later another Honda factory was destroyed in an earthquake. It looked like he might lose his business. It was soul-destroying that what he had spent years building was literally reduced to rubble.

The company was already struggling immensely due to the war, but this was the final nail in the company’s coffin – it was going out of business, so Honda sold what was left of its manufacturing business to Toyota.

Motorbike Era

After the war, there was a severe fuel shortage, and transportation was mostly limited to bicycles. People needed a way to get around easily and cheaply while being highly fuel efficient. Honda had an idea: He attached a small motor to his bike, which soon caught the attention of the entire city.

Realizing that there might be a better solution to his country’s problems, Honda created the Honda Technical Research Institute in 1946 using the money he had left after selling his piston ring manufacturing business.

His only goal was to find out the best way to build a bike. Using some of the surplus military engines, he was able to successfully build performance motorcycles that quickly became popular in Japan.

Soon, he was flooded with orders and ran out of used engines, so Honda developed his own engine. However, to produce enough motorbikes to fulfill the demand, Honda needed more money to invest in production. And unfortunately, in the terrible economic conditions of the post-war period, investment was not easily available. But as usual, Honda found a way.

He reportedly wrote letters to 18,000 cycle shop owners across the country explaining his idea, and asking them to invest in his new motorbike design. 3,000 of these cycle shop owners wrote back saying they would invest in Honda motorbikes. So, Honda is back in business.

Super Cub Success

Honda Motor Co. was incorporated in 1948 with the aim of producing an affordable motorcycle that would help the Japanese people get around easily. Honda’s first full-fledged motorbike was the D-Type, which stood for the dream – although it was a bit bulky and heavy, Honda soon succeeded with a new and improved model called the “Super Cub”, which was light, small, and secure.

US Market Expansion

It was an instant success, and orders started pouring in from all over the country. Honda then turned its attention to entering the US market. Honda launched a highly successful advertising campaign with the slogan, “You meet the best people at Honda.”

As a result, in 1964 nearly one out of every two motorcycles sold in the United States was a Honda motorcycle. And soon, small lightweight motorbikes flooded America’s roads.

Global Motorcycle Dominance

And by the late 1960s, Honda was the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer, producing about a million motorcycles a month. In fact, Honda is still the largest motorcycle manufacturer to this day.

Honda Civic Revolution

Finally, the time has come for his biggest and most ambitious project yet. Honda wanted to build his own affordable cars. He had to face many competitors and difficulties but Honda has always been a risk-taker.

Honda Motor Company’s first attempt at producing a car was actually the T360 mini truck sold in 1963 but it was unpopular and never sold well. But as usual, when Honda faces failure like this, it means the company has to find a new way.

After many failures, in 1972, Honda Motor Company launched the Honda Civic model. The Honda Civic is fuel-efficient, economical and reliable. Basically it was the best car at the best time and Honda Civic will soon become one of the most popular car models in the world.

Today, Honda Motors is one of the world’s leading automakers and continues to expand with new products from jet aircraft to robots.

Soichiro Honda’s Legacy

That’s really crazy, because Honda’s life started very darkly, just because he was curious and loved working with tools and machines. But Honda knew very quickly what he wanted and was determined to achieve it. Even though he faced many difficulties but he did not give up and overcame difficulties and fulfilled his dream.

Conclusion

When life throws challenges your way, don’t give up on your dreams; Just keep moving forward. Challenges, no matter how difficult, are the path to success. With determination, these obstacles will become stepping stones toward your goals. Do not stop; Instead, overcome, and you’ll find yourself closer to your dreams. Remember that every difficulty you overcome is an important step on your journey to achieving what you want. So stay strong, stay focused, and keep moving forward.