The Honda Motor Company was founded in 1948 as a producer of motorcycles, and although they had considerable financial difficulties in the early years, they soon established themselves as competitive manufacturers by claiming the Constructor’s title in the Isle of Man TT. Subsequent years saw them take individual winners’ honours in the TT in a variety of classes.
Honda cars first appeared in 1962, with two sports cars and a mini-truck being released onto the Japanese market, but Honda never really made an impact in the automotive market until the Seventies. When they came up with the Civic in 1972, Honda cars started selling well, and their future as a manufacturer was assured. The Civic won the Japan Car Of The Year awards three years on the trot, and though it has naturally undergone several transformations since then, Honda cars bearing the Civic badge are still on sale today.
British buyers have definitely taken to Honda cars – a BBC Top Gear survey of 50,000 people rated the Honda S2000 as the best car around, based on reliability, driving experience and customer service. The same survey also saw the Honda Jazz voted best small car. Furthermore, the Honda Civic made it into the ‘Cool’ category on the Top Gear Cool Wall, as did the Jazz. You can see specs on all of these Honda cars here, as well as specs for the Accord, the CR-V, the FR-V, the HR-V, the Stream and the NSX supercar.
To sum up, if Clarkson and company think Honda cars are cool, who are we to argue?