Hondas are a familiar site on our roads. In 2017, 3 out of 10 of the best selling cars in America (and 3 out of those 7 that weren’t pickup trucks) were Hondas. My family is pretty keen on them. My parents owned an Acura Integra (Acura being their luxury brand) when they lived in Chicago in the early 90s. My Dad got a TL in 2000, and then gave it to my sister in 2013 who totalled it when she t-boned an SUV. My mom ferried my sister and I to school for 7 years in a 2003 Honda Pilot and then replaced that with an MDX. It’s not hard to see why my parents, and millions of other Americans, love Hondas. They tend to be fuel efficient and extremely reliable. How Honda came to take over this country is a fascinating story.
Honda Z600
In the early 70s, believe it or not, Honda was still better known for motorcycles and ATVs than for cars, not just here, but in Japan. In 1970, their lineup consisted of the pictured Z series subcompact, the oddball S800 roadster with chain drive, and the 1300 compact sedan. Sales were slow and Honda seriously contemplated pulling out of the automotive business.
1972 Civic
But then, a breakthrough. Honda’s new subcompact Civic came out in 1972 and was an immediate success. It performed better and gave better fuel economy than American subcompacts such as the Ford Pinto (although the tendency of that gas to catch fire makes it an unfair comparison), and the AMC Gremlin. It also sold very well in European markets, notably Britain where it was the first Honda to be marketed there. In 1974, boosted by the energy crisis, sales of this nifty little car topped 100,000.
Unfortunately, Honda had not quite gotten its spectacular quality down yet. Rust was a big problem. Honda settled with the FTC and issued a recall for the rusting of fenders on 1975-1979 models. NHTSA recalled every Civic made between 1972 and 1979 for rusting of suspension beams and control arms.
Even at this point, Honda was showing high amounts of innovation. They came up with a technology called “Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion” or CVCC. It was a lean-burn technology that meant they could meet the 1975 Smog Standards without a catalytic converter. Ford and Chrysler both liked this technology and licensed production, but GM’s arrogance kept them out, their CEO Richard Gerstenberg had this to say:
"Well, I have looked at this design, and while it might work on some little toy motorcycle engine…I see no potential for it on one of our GM car engines."
Soichiro Honda was absolutely incensed by this and decided to exact a little revenge. He personally purchased a 1973 Chevrolet Impala with the 350 Cubic Inch V8 (not a toy motorcycle engine), had it shipped to Japan where his engineers installed lean burn heads, then sent it back to the US where it was tested. Guess what? It managed to meet all of the EPA’s emissions requirements (except for nitrous oxide) and even got better fuel economy in some tests with no drop in horsepower.
1976 Honda Accord
Honda was now moving on to greater and better things. Soichiro owned a 1969 Firebird and wanted Honda to build its own pony car comparable in size to the Ford Mustang II. But the energy crisis forced the new car to be shrunk to be comparable to the Toyota Celica and VW Scirocco. The Accord was released in 1976 and the rest is history. Honda produced a small car that was pleasant to own and durable, something the Big 3 tried and failed utterly to replicate. In 1982, they opened their first American factory in Marysville, Ohio to produce the Accord which, evolving into a midsized family sedan, moved up US sales charts and managed to top them in 1991. In 10 years, Honda had gone from nearly pulling out of the car business to dominating it.