Soichiro Honda started out as an auto mechanic in the late 1930s, and the inveterate tinkerer eventually formed his own company to manufacture piston rings for Toyota.
After the start of World War II, his factory turned to manufacturing aircraft propellers for the war effort, until American bombs and a 1945 earthquake destroyed his Yamashita plant.
With the money he made selling what was left of his company to Toyota in 1946, he started a research firm that evolved into the Honda Motor Co., Ltd., in 1949. The company’s first product was the 1949 D-Type motorcycle. By 1964, Honda had become the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer.
As his company grew, Honda looked to expand into wider markets beyond Japan. With strong motorcycle sales in the U.S., establishing a corporate presence there seemed a natural move.
Southern California’s postwar outdoor recreational lifestyle suited the company’s product line, one reason why Honda chose Los Angeles as the site of its American Honda Motor Co. subsidiary. Its combination sales office/corporate headquarters opened at 4077 Pico Blvd., just east of Crenshaw Boulevard, on June 11, 1959.
Business was good at first, but not great. But Honda had faith, and continued improving his products and expanding production.
In 1963, it all changed.
The company launched a massive advertising campaign, and its slogan, “You meet the nicest people on a Honda,” became ubiquitous.
Marketers targeted the ad blitz at young buyers, downplaying the negative image of motorcyclists as juvenile delinquents or members of biker gangs. The colorful ads featured clean-cut teens having wholesome fun on their Hondas.
Sales went through the roof. Even the surf and hot rod groups so popular during the era got on board. Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys wrote “Little Honda,” which his group recorded. The hit version went to a studio group named The Hondells, who also recorded, “You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda.”
The company’s rapid growth caused it to outgrow its small Pico Boulevard location. In 1963, American Honda moved its corporate headquarters to a larger site, 100 W. Alondra Blvd., in Gardena.
That year also marked the production of Honda’s first automobiles, the T360 mini pickup truck and the S550 sports car, which were sold overseas but not in the U.S.
The company spent the rest of the 1960s selling large numbers of motorcycles in the states. Finally, Honda took the plunge in 1970, when it introduced its N600 sedan to the American market, starting with the West Coast.
Consumers didn’t take the small, fuel-efficient cars seriously at first, but sales picked up when the 1973 energy crisis brought long lines to gas pumps everywhere. That year, Honda introduced its first Civic model, which has been a standard of the fuel-efficient transportation car ever since.
The company continued expanding its auto offerings with the Accord in 1976, and its Acura line of luxury cars 10 years later.
By the 1980s, Honda’s American operations had grown exponentially. In 1981, the company purchased 76 acres of industrial land in Old Torrance, the first step toward what eventually would be a 101-acre deluxe new headquarters.
The city of Torrance had the responsibility of clearing out various small businesses on the land, including the Shamrock roller skating rink and multiple auto repair shops. One of them, former Carson City Councilman Jake Egan’s AableMuffler Shop, was the last holdout on the property, not agreeing to close until 1992.
Several Torrance city streets also disappeared in the redevelopment, including Mullin, Santa Clara and Llewellyn avenues.
The $225-million project was built in two phases. The first included buildings for research and development, and engineering divisions on the north end of the property. Employees moved into those departments in 1985.
After delays due to the identification and removal of underground methane gas, the second phase, including the five-story, 300,000-square-foot administration building, opened in 1990. Approximately 2,200 employees are currently based at the company’s American headquarters, 1919 Torrance Blvd. (Company founder Soichiro Honda died in Tokyo on Aug. 5, 1991.)
Unlike Nissan and Toyota, who moved their corporate offices from the South Bay in 2006 and 2017, respectively, American Honda plans to keep its headquarters in Torrance.
As Honda spokesman Marcos Frommer told the Daily Breeze on the occasion of the company’s 60th anniversary of U.S. operations in 2019, “We have no intention of moving — we’re part of the community.”.
Sources: Daily Breeze files; “50 Years of Honda in America,” by Don Sherman, Automobile magazine, July 7, 2009; Honda Motor Company, Ltd. site; Los Angeles Times files; Torrance Press-Herald files; Wikipedia.
April 06, 2021 at 04:06AM
https://ift.tt/3dGsgUj
South Bay History: American Honda finds its corporate home in Torrance - The Daily Breeze
https://ift.tt/38hkzRl
Honda
No comments:
Post a Comment