Honda Soichiro

Honda began working as a mechanic in Tokyo at age 15 and six years later opened his own repair shop in Hamamatsu. At the same time, he began building and driving race cars. Shortly before World War II he perfected a technique for making piston rings, one of his more than 100 patents, and during the war his company, Tokai Seiki, manufactured engines for aircraft and for the Japanese navy. After selling that business to Toyota Motor Corporation in 1945, he founded the Honda Technical Research Institute, which was incorporated in 1948 as Honda Motor Company. The new company prospered by producing light motorcycles powered by small but highly efficient engines. Honda pioneered new engine designs and components while his partner, Fujisawa Takeo, oversaw the company’s finances and marketing operations. By 1959 Honda’s company had become the leading maker of motorcycles in the world.

The nonconformist Honda eschewed conventional Japanese managerial traditions by promoting “the Honda Way,” which relied on personal initiative coupled with a close relationship between workers and management. He also flouted the Japanese government’s attempt to limit the nation’s auto industry to a few dominant firms. His company began producing automobiles in 1963 and had become the third largest Japanese automaker by the early 1980s. Honda’s almost obsessive attention to detail prompted him to test new models of cars and motorcycles personally until shortly before his retirement from the company presidency in 1973.