HONDA MARINE
You have certainly noticed this silver beauty on the waves. It is manufactured by Honda, another successful Japanese company that produces outboard motors at the Hosoe factory in Shizuoka, Japan. Honda, however, managed to penetrate into the international market not only with its exterior beauty and sophisticated design. Under the covers of their outboard engines are hidden quality, powerful engines that operate extremely quietly.
Honda made its first 4-stroke outboard engine among the first, back in 1964. The company was founded by Soichiro Honda, son of a blacksmith, who ran a home-based bicycle repair business. He founded it long before he started producing outboard engines for boats. The company was founded shortly after World War II, in 1948, they started producing Honda engines for bicycles and propellers for military aircraft. The company leaders quickly contacted Toyota and signed the contract so they could produce piston rings for them. This put the company on its feet and, after making some more profit, they continued to develop gadgets, such as lawn mowers and portable generators, to provide light at night work on construction sites, and shortly thereafter even the first outboard engines.
What is special about the company from the very beginning is its environmental friendliness. As mentioned earlier, Honda focused its development on the production of 4-stroke engines from the very beginning, which was not the most usual, as most manufacturers at that time bet on 2-stroke engines. Soichiro Honda, however, said at the time that “what floats on water should not pollute you.” By following this guideline, he dictated trends, and his company, long before the world ever came up with demands for the production of environmentally friendly products, produced engines that complied with regulations on environmental pollution restrictions.
The company also keeps up with the times. Their latest engines already provide connectivity to digital devices and displays using the NMEA 2000 on-board communication standard, so users always get the most important engine status information. So if you love reliability, economy and also want to do something for the environment, Honda will certainly be your first choice and a loyal companion on the waves.
You can read more about Honda Marine here.