Honda Motor Company (Japan)

Western consumers know Honda for its cars - it is the #3 Japanese auto manufacturer worldwide behind Toyota and Nissan. But throughout Asia the company is famed for the motorbikes on which the business was originally built. Honda is the world's leading bike manufacturer, selling more than 10 million of them in 2005, over three times the number of automobiles it sold. In the car division, Honda's top model is the Accord, a huge hit for over 20 years in America where it represents more than half of all the company's sales. While other manufacturers discard models over the years, Honda hang on to theirs, just change the design when sales begin to slow. The Honda Civic first appeared almost 30 years ago, but today's model is bears no resemblance to the 1972 version.

Until the crisis which enveloped virtually all the world's auto manufacturers during 2008, Honda had demonstrated strong growth because of its emphasis on affordable, reliable, cheap-to-run vehicles. However it has lagged a little behind Toyota and Nissan in Western markets, partly because it offers a smaller passenger car range. One rare but significant misstep was an inability to convert an early lead in hybrid fuel technology into actual sales. It aims to make up for that error with an aggressive rollout of other hybrid models between 2009 and 2012. Honda is also a leader in what is likely to become the next cutting edge alternative of hydrogen powered fuel cells. The group's overall strength is bolstered by its dominance in the motorcycle sector, especially in developing markets. Advertising Age estimated global measured advertising expenditure of $2.0bn in 2007, making Honda the world's #10 advertiser.

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The Adbrands Company Profile of Honda summarises the company's history and current operations. Subscribers may access the following website links:

Honda website

New Honda Civic	Honda ASIMO Robot
Acura Automobiles	Honda Racing
Honda S2000	Honda Insight
Honda Motorcycles	Honda Engines
Honda Power Equipment	Honda Finance
Honda HR-V	Honda Marine

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