Very nice condition! Included multiple patches, as seen in the pics.

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Japanese: 本田技研工業株式会社, Hepburn: Honda Giken Kōgyō Kabushiki gaisha, lit. 'Honda Institute of Technology and Industry Joint-Stock Company', IPA: [honda] ⓘ; /ˈhɒndə/) is a Japanese multinational conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.

Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959,[3][4] reaching a production of 400 million by 19 December 2019.[5] It is also the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than 14 million internal combustion engines each year.[6] Honda became the second-largest Japanese automobile manufacturer in 2001.[7][8] In 2015, Honda was the eighth largest automobile manufacturer in the world.[9]

Honda was the first Japanese automobile manufacturer to release a dedicated luxury brand, Acura, on 27 March 1986. Aside from their core automobile and motorcycle businesses, Honda also manufactures garden equipment, marine engines, personal watercraft, power generators, and other products. Since 1986, Honda has been involved with artificial intelligence/robotics research and released their ASIMO robot in 2000. They have also ventured into aerospace with the establishment of GE Honda Aero Engines in 2004 and the Honda HA-420 HondaJet, which began production in 2012. Honda has two joint-ventures in China: Dongfeng Honda and GAC Honda.

In 2013, Honda invested about 5.7% (US$6.8 billion) of its revenues into research and development.[10] Also in 2013, Honda became the first Japanese automaker to be a net exporter from the United States, exporting 108,705 Honda and Acura models, while importing only 88,357.

Honda's automotive manufacturing ambitions can be traced back to 1963, with the Honda T360, a Kei truck built for the Japanese market.[51] This was followed by the two-door roadster, the Honda S500 also introduced in 1963. In 1965, Honda built a two-door commercial delivery van, named the Honda L700. Honda's first four-door sedan was not the Honda Accord, but the air-cooled, four-cylinder, gasoline-powered Honda 1300 which was introduced in 1969. The Civic was a hatchback that gained wide popularity internationally, but it wasn't the first two-door hatchback built by Honda. That was the Honda N360, a Kei car that was adapted for international sale as the N600. The Civic, which appeared in 1972 and replaced the N600 also had a smaller sibling that replaced the air-cooled N360, called the Honda Life, which was water-cooled.

The Honda Life represented Honda's efforts in competing in the kei car segment, offering sedan, delivery van and small pick-up platforms on a shared chassis. The Life Step Van had a novel approach that, while not initially a commercial success, appeared to be an influence to vehicles with the front passengers sitting behind the engine, a large cargo area with a flat roof and a liftgate installed in back, and utilizing a transversely installed engine with a front-wheel-drive powertrain.

As Honda entered into automobile manufacturing in the late 1960s where Japanese manufacturers such as Toyota and Nissan had been making cars since before WWII, Honda instilled a sense of doing things a little differently than its Japanese competitors. Its mainstay products like the Accord and Civic (with the exception of its USA-market 1993–97 Passport which was part of a vehicle exchange program with Isuzu (part of the Subaru-Isuzu joint venture)) have always employed Front-wheel drive powertrain implementation, which is currently a long-held Honda tradition. Honda also installed new technologies into their products, first as optional equipment, then later standard, like anti-lock brakes, speed-sensitive power steering, and multi-port fuel injection in the early 1980s. This desire to be the first to try new approaches is evident with the creation of the first Japanese luxury chain Acura, and was also evident with the all-aluminum, mid-engined sports car, the Honda NSX, which also introduced variable valve timing technology, which Honda calls VTEC.

The Civic family is a line of compact cars developed and manufactured by Honda. In North America, the Civic is the second-longest continuously running nameplate from a Japanese manufacturer; only its perennial rival, the Toyota Corolla, introduced in 1966, has been in production longer.[52] The Civic, along with the Accord and Prelude, comprised Honda's vehicles sold in North America until the 1990s, when the model lineup was expanded. Having gone through several generational changes, the Civic has become larger and more upmarket, and it currently slots between the Fit and Accord.

Honda's first hybrid electric vehicle was the 1999 Insight. The Civic was first offered as a hybrid in 2001, and the Accord followed in 2004. In 2008, the company launched the Clarity, a fuel cell car.

In 2008, Honda increased global production to meet the demand for small cars and hybrids in the U.S. and emerging markets. The company shuffled U.S. production to keep factories busy and boost car output while building fewer minivans and sport utility vehicles as light truck sales fell.[53]

Its first entrance into the pickup segment, the light-duty Ridgeline, won Truck of the Year from Motor Trend magazine in 2006. Also in 2006, the redesigned Civic won Car of the Year from the magazine, giving Honda a rare double win of Motor Trend honors.

It is reported that Honda plans to increase hybrid sales in Japan to more than 20% of its total sales in the fiscal year 2011, from 14.8% in the previous year.[54]

Five of United States Environmental Protection Agency's top ten most fuel-efficient cars from 1984 to 2010 come from Honda, more than any other automakers. The five models are: 2000–2006 Honda Insight (53 mpg‑US or 4.4 L/100 km or 64 mpg‑imp combined), 1986–1987 Honda Civic Coupe HF (46 mpg‑US or 5.1 L/100 km or 55 mpg‑imp combined), 1994–1995 Honda Civic hatchback VX (43 mpg‑US or 5.5 L/100 km or 52 mpg‑imp combined), 2006– Honda Civic Hybrid (42 mpg‑US or 5.6 L/100 km or 50 mpg‑imp combined), and 2010– Honda Insight (41 mpg‑US or 5.7 L/100 km or 49 mpg‑imp combined).[55] The ACEEE has also rated the Civic GX as the greenest car in America for seven consecutive years.[56]

Honda currently builds vehicles in factories located in Japan, the United States of America, Canada, China, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Brazil, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Turkey, Argentina, Mexico, Taiwan, and the Philippines.

Honda is the largest motorcycle manufacturer in Japan and has been since it started production in 1955.[12] At its peak in 1982, Honda manufactured almost three million motorcycles annually. By 2006, this figure had been reduced to around 550,000 but was still higher than its three domestic competitors.[12]

In 2017, India became the largest motorcycle market for Honda.[57][58] In India, Honda is leading in the scooters segment, with 59% market share.[59]

During the 1960s when it was a small manufacturer, Honda broke out of the Japanese motorcycle market and began exporting to the United States. Working with the advertising agency Grey Advertising, Honda created an innovative marketing campaign, using the slogan "You meet the nicest people on a Honda." In contrast to the prevailing negative stereotypes of motorcyclists in America as tough, antisocial rebels, this campaign suggested that Honda motorcycles were made for the everyman. The campaign was hugely successful; the ads ran for three years, and by the end of 1963 alone, Honda had sold 90,000 motorcycles.[13]

Taking Honda's story as an archetype of the smaller manufacturer entering a new market already occupied by highly dominant competitors, the story of their market entry, and their subsequent huge success in the U.S. and around the world has been the subject of some academic controversy. Competing explanations have been advanced to explain Honda's strategy and the reasons for their success.[60]

The first of these explanations was put forward when, in 1975, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was commissioned by the UK government to write a report explaining why and how the British motorcycle industry had been out-competed by its Japanese competitors. The report concluded that the Japanese firms, including Honda, had sought a very high scale of production (they had made a large number of motorbikes) in order to benefit from economies of scale and learning curve effects. It blamed the decline of the British motorcycle industry on the failure of British managers to invest enough in their businesses to profit from economies of scale and scope.

The second explanation was offered in 1984 by Richard Pascale, who had interviewed the Honda executives responsible for the firm's entry into the U.S. market. As opposed to the tightly focused strategy of low cost and high scale that BCG accredited to Honda, Pascale found that their entry into the U.S. market was a story of "miscalculation, serendipity, and organizational learning" – in other words, Honda's success was due to the adaptability and hard work of its staff, rather than any long-term strategy.[62] For example, Honda's initial plan on entering the US market was to compete in large motorcycles, around 300 cc. Honda's motorcycles in this class suffered performance and reliability problems when ridden the relatively long distances of the US highways.[13]: 41–43  When the team found that the scooters they were using to get themselves around their U.S. base of San Francisco attracted positive interest from consumers they fell back on selling the Super Cub instead.[13]: 41–43 

The most recent school of thought on Honda's strategy was put forward by Gary Hamel and C. K. Prahalad in 1989. Creating the concept of core competencies with Honda as an example, they argued that Honda's success was due to its focus on leadership in the technology of internal combustion engines.[63] For example, the high power-to-weight ratio engines Honda produced for its racing bikes provided technology and expertise which was transferable into mopeds. Honda's entry into the U.S. motorcycle market during the 1960s is used as a case study for teaching introductory strategy at business schools worldwide.[64]

ATVs

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Honda builds utility ATVs under models Recon, Rubicon, Rancher, Foreman and Rincon. Honda also builds sports ATVs under the models TRX 90X, TRX 250X, TRX 400x, TRX 450R and TRX 700.