Honda just hit the 400 million bikes production milestone

MANILA: When you think of Honda, the first thing that comes to mind is that it is a car company. However, Honda started its business as a motorcycle company that had evolved over time.

Honda Motor Company, Ltd. is one of those enduring Japanese companies that still actively pursues its original business—creating motorcycles. Honda was founded in 1948 and a year after, released its first-ever motorcycle,

the Dream D-Type in 1949. Seven decades later, Honda is not just celebrating its platinum anniversary in the motorcycle industry, but also marks its400-million-unit milestone in cumulative global motorcycle sale.

Over the past several decades, Honda has introduced a ton of iconic motorcycles. From the best-selling Honda Super Cub C100 that was first released in 1958 and had an update in 2020 with the C125; to daily scooters like the Honda Activa to the more rugged Honda Hornet; to superbikes like the Fireblade and Africa Twin, all contributed to this momentous milestone.

Honda will not be able to achieve the 400-million-unit mark without operation milestones as well. To increase production capacity, Honda began manufacturing motorcycles outside Japan in 1963 with its first-ever overseas plant in Belgium and Thailand 4 years after.

This allowed Honda to reach the 10 million-unit mark for cumulative motorcycle production by 1968. Since then the company aggressively ramped up production, establishing production plants in Indonesia in 1971, Brazil and Italy in 1976, and Nigeria in 1980.

By the 1990s, the production of Honda motorcycles was focused on Asia and have reached China (1992), Vietnam (1997), India (2001), and Bangladesh (2013). The high demand for a cost-efficient transport vehicle in developing countries in Asia allowed Honda to have a sizeable percentage of the market which lead them to exceeds the 10 million-unit annual motorcycle annual production mark in 2004.

And four years after, hit the 200 million-unit milestone in 2008 for cumulative global motorcycle production. A little over a decade later, Honda was able to double its 2008 milestone to reach 400 million-unit milestone for cumulative global motorcycle production.

According to Takahiro Hachigo, Chief Executive Officer of Honda Motor, “For 70 years, Honda has provided to customers worldwide motorcycles that make life easier and enjoyable. As a result, we have achieved our 400 million-unit milestone.

I am grateful to all of our customers, and everyone involved in the development, manufacturing, sales, and service of our products. We will continue to do our best to provide attractive products that meet the needs and dreams of our customers worldwide.”

Also Read: 2020 Honda Fireblade marks Asian debut