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History of Honda Motor Cars / Automobiles |
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- 8.11.4. Honda
- The Honda Motor Company was formed in 1948 by Soichiro Honda to produce motorcycles.
- In June 1963 Honda produced their first four-wheeled vehicle, the T360, a small 356 cc pick-up truck.
- The 531 cc S500 sports car was Honda’s first production car and 1,363 were made from October 1963 to September 1964.
- The car weighed only 1,500 lb (680 kg) and had a top speed of 80 mph (129 kph).
- The S360 roadster model was developed in 1962 but it did not enter production.
- The small front wheel drive, 354 cc, 2-door sedan Honda N360 was produced from March 1967 to 1970.
- In 1969 the company introduced the more powerful 599 cc N600, the first Honda car to be officially imported into the United States.
- The N600 had a top speed of 81 mph (130 kph) and was produced until 1972.
- A N1300 model was also available from 1968 until 1972.
- In July 1972 Honda introduced the Civic as a two-door coupe, followed by a three-door hatchback two months later. Both versions had a 1,169 cc transverse engine and front-wheel drive.
- By 1979 a 4-door sedan and 5-door hatchback version were available.
- By 2005 over 16.5 million Honda Civics had been produced. The world’s sixth best selling car.
- The eighth generation Honda Civic was introduced in 2006, with engines of up to 2 litres available.
- The Accord model was first produced by Honda in 1976 as a 68 hp two-door hatchback, with a four-door sedan added in 1979.
- The third generation sedan models produced between 1985 and 1989 included the striking “flip-up" headlights.
- In 2002 Honda introduced the seventh generation Accord offering a 4-door sedan and a 2-door coupe, with 2.4 and 3.0 litre engines.
- In addition to Japan, the Accord has been manufactured in China, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Thailand and the United States (where it was the top selling Japanese car from 1982 to 1997).
- In 1986, Honda started production of the 151 hp Acura Legend.
- This was followed in 1987 by the Prelude, the first passenger car in the world equipped with four-wheel steering technology.
- Models produced in 2007 include the Jazz, CR-V, FR-V, Civic, Accord, Fit, Odyssey and the S2000.
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