American Honda 50th Anniversary Timeline 1959 ♦ On June 11, American Honda Motor Co, Inc. is incorporated as the first overseas subsidiary of Honda Motor Co., Ltd., just eleven years after the company’s inception as a small motorcycle manufacturer in Japan. ♦ A handful of associates led by 39-year-old Kihachiro Kawashima 1959 American begin signing up U.S. motorcycle dealers, working out of a small Honda storefront, storefront office at 4077 Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles The Honda 50 (Super Cub), Dream and Benly motorcycles are the first Honda products sold in the U.S. First-year sales amounted to just over 1,700 units. 1962 ♦ Honda begins selling power equipment products in the U.S. Its first product is the F-190 tiller followed by the E-300 and E-40 portable generators in 1964. ♦ American Honda launches the memorable 12-year ad campaign, 1962 F190 "You meet the nicest people on a Honda" to create a new image of fun and friendly motorcycling with U.S. consumers. Advertisements appeared on billboards and in many of America’s most prestigious magazines of the day, and, in 1965, the company aired two 90- second commercials during the Academy Awards. 1962 You Meet The Nicest People Ad 1963 ♦ American Honda, now with approximately 800 motorcycle dealers around the country, moves its corporate headquarters from Pico Boulevard to new offices in Gardena, California. ♦ Honda not only has to establish itself in the U.S. motorcycle 1963 Gardena market, it has to overcome the negative stereotype of Facility motorcyclists. 1968 ♦ American Honda sells its one-millionth motorcycle in the U.S. Honda Scooter Ad 1969 ♦ American Honda sells a handful of its first automobile, the diminutive N600 sedan, in Hawaii in 1969 followed by the start of sales in the continental U.S. in 1970. The N600 carries a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $1,275 1970 Honda N600 1973 ♦ American Honda introduces the Civic hatchback at the outset of America’s first energy crisis. With an MSRP of $2,150, a fuel- efficient 4-cylinder engine, and a front-wheel drive/front engine 1973 Civic 1500 layout, the Civic is virtually an overnight hit with American car buyers. ♦ Honda introduces the industry’s first 4-stroke outboard marine engines, which are cleaner, quieter and more fuel-efficient than comparable 2-stroke motors. 1974 ♦ The 1975 Civic CVCC (Compound Vortex-Combustion Controlled) is introduced as the first car to meet U.S. Clean Air Act exhaust emissions standards without the use of a catalytic converter. In 1975 Honda CVCC 1977, the Civic CVCC tops the U.S. EPA’s first-ever list of the most Civic fuel-efficient cars in America with an EPA fuel economy rating of 40 mpg. 1975 ♦ Honda begins market research and new model development activities in America with the establishment of Honda Research California (later Honda R&D Americas, Inc.) in the company’s 1975 Gold Wing Gardena, California, headquarters. ♦ Honda introduces the GL1100 “Gold Wing” igniting U.S. motorcycle riders passion for long-distance cruising 1976 ♦ American Honda introduces the Honda Accord, first as a hatchback, followed by the Accord 4-door sedan in 1979. Accord soon establishes itself as the new benchmark of mainstream 1976 Accord economy sedans. Hatchback 1977 ♦ Honda announces plan to produce* products in America, starting with motorcycles, but with a plan to add automobiles in the future. Honda of America Mfg., Inc. is formally established in February 1978. 1978 Ohio Flag at Marysville Site 1979 ♦ On September 10, Honda of America Mfg. begins production of the Honda CR250M Elsinore motorcycle at the Marysville Motorcycle Plant in Marysville, Ohio, making Honda the first Japanese automaker to produce products of any kind in America. Within days of the start of motorcycle production, Honda decides to go ahead with plans for a new automobile factory in Ohio. 1979 CR250R Honda of America line-off event 1980 ♦ Honda breaks ground on a new $250 million auto plant in Marysville, Ohio. 1982 ♦ On November 1, a slate gray Accord Sedan is driven off the end of the assembly line at the Marysville Auto Plant (MAP), making Honda the first Japanese automaker to build automobiles in the U.S. Over the next 25 years, Honda will invest more than $3.8 1982 first Honda billion in expanding and modernizing MAP to ensure that it remains Accord line-off event in Ohio one of the U.S. auto industry’s most flexible and efficient production facilities. 1984 ♦ In February, American Honda confirms its plans for a new luxury- performance division called internally “Channel II” as an alternative to well-established European brands. The new division is eventually named Acura. ♦ On August 6, Honda Power Equipment Mfg., Inc., begins assembling Honda lawnmowers at a new plant in Swepsonville, NC. The plant steadily expands its capacity to more than 340,000 lawnmowers and 2 million general-purpose engines annually. Start Up of ♦ With heavy influence from American Honda and Honda R&D Lawnmower Americas, the company introduces the1984 Honda CRX-HF, the Production first car to achieve an EPA fuel economy rating in excess of 50 miles per gallon. 1985 ♦ On July 22, the Anna Engine Plant (AEP) in Anna, Ohio, begins production of Gold Wing engines. AEP would build its first automobile engine in September 1986 and goes on to become Honda’s highest volume engine plant in the world with an annual production capacity of 1.2 million units (in 2008). ♦ The Marysville Auto Plant (MAP) accomplishes the U.S. auto industry’s first rolling model change with the launch of the 1986 Accord without a plant shutdown. MAP is also the first U.S. auto plant to build left- and right-hand drive cars on one assembly line and the first to export cars to Japan, in 1988. ♦ Honda R&D Americas opens its Ohio Center for new vehicle development. The facility and its engineers go on to develop some of the company’s most innovative products including two generations of the Honda Pilot and Acura MDX SUVs, Element, Ridgeline pickup, and three generations of the Acura TL sedan. Anna Engine Plant 1986 ♦ Acura is launched as the first luxury brand from a Japanese automaker. Sales of the Acura Legend Sedan and Integra 3-door and 5-door sports sedans begin on March 27 at 60 Acura dealers in 18 states. The Legend Sedan is named Motor Trend 1986 Acura Legend magazine’s “Import Car of the Year” and Acura goes on to become the best-selling import nameplate for 1987, and also tops J.D. Power and Associates’ annual Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) survey for four consecutive years (1987-1990) 1988 ♦ The Ohio-made Accord Coupe becomes the first U.S.-built vehicle ever exported to Japan with the start of exports on March 7. American Honda quickly becomes the #1 exporter of U.S.-built automobiles to Japan. 1988 Honda Accord Coupe is the first export to Japan 1989 ♦ The East Liberty Auto Plant (ELP), Honda’s second U.S. auto plant, in East Liberty, Ohio, begins production of Civics in December. ELP is the first automobile plant in America to use more environmentally friendly waterborne paint. ♦ Honda company co-founder, Soichiro Honda, becomes the first 1989 Mr. Honda leader of a Japanese automaker inducted into the U.S. Automotive Inducted into the Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame ♦ The Accord becomes America’s top-selling automobile, a position it holds for three consecutive years (1989-1991). 1990 ♦ The 1991 Acura NSX is launched as the first supercar from a Japanese automaker and the first production automobile with an all-aluminum chassis and body. The NSX, with an MSRP of 1991 Acura NSX $65,000, also debuts the company’s VTEC (Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control) engine technology for improved performance with reduced emissions and higher fuel efficiency, which is later applied to virtually all Honda and Acura vehicles sold in America. ♦ The 1991 Accord Wagon debuts as the first Honda vehicle to be designed, developed and manufactured in America. 1994 ♦ American Honda introduces the first-generation Odyssey minivan based on an automobile unibody platform. The Odyssey, with its fold-away third-row “magic seat” paves the way for Honda’s entry 1994 Honda into the burgeoning U.S. light truck market. Odyssey Magic Seat ♦ American Honda begins racing in the IndyCar World Series. Honda-powered cars go on to win 65 out of 164 races in several open-wheel series between 1994 and 2002, capturing six Driver’s Championships and four Manufacturer’s Championships. 1995 ♦ 1995 Civic is the first automobile to meet California’s Low- Emissions Vehicle (LEV) exhaust emissions standards. Honda goes on to lead the industry in the introduction of low-emission vehicles including the first 50-state low-emissions car (1998 Civic), first ULEV (1998 Accord), first-to-market SULEV (2000 Accord), 1995 Civic 1st to and first AT-PZEV (2001 Civic GX). meet LEV standard 1996 ♦ Honda Transmission Mfg. of America, Inc. begins production of gears and automatic transmissions for automobiles. The plant adds production of high-precision gears in 2006 and four-wheel- drive differentials in 2007. 1997 ♦ American Honda begins leasing the Honda EV Plus battery electric vehicle (BEV), the first four-passenger BEV powered by advanced nickel-metal hydride batteries and an early example of Honda’s 1997 Honda EV effort to advance electric drive technology. Plus 1998 ♦ Sales of Honda and Acura vehicles exceed one-million units for the first time in a single year as the Accord completes a decade as the best-selling vehicle to individual car buyers (excluding fleet sales) 1998 Honda Accord and the Civic is the best-selling compact car in America for the third V6 Sedan consecutive year.