Honda: Serendipity or Strategy from 1997–2007?

Denise J. Luethge and Philippe Byosière

Chapter 6 in The Second Automobile Revolution, 2009, pp 112-128 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Serendipity or strategy? What Las Vegas bookie could have set the odds that one day in Detroit, the ‘motor city’, a robot called Asimo, developed by Japanese automobile giant Honda, would conduct the Detroit Symphony Orchestra to ‘The Impossible Dream’ from the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha? Yet, such an event took place on 15 May 2008 in order to stimulate interest in mathematics and science among America’s youth. It is a sign of the changing times that with Takeo Fukui at the helm, Honda is back on the track of its innovative, creative and risk-taking roots that exemplified the life of its founder, Soichiro Honda. But not all is rosy at Honda: February 2008 saw the announcement of the closing of its motorcycle plant, opened in 1973 in Marysville, Ohio, despite having a US market share of 25 per cent. Honda also announced the closing of its motorcycle plant in Hamamatsu in order to consolidate heavy motorcycle production under one roof in Kyushu. However, on the other hand, in February 2007 Honda decided to open its aircraft headquarters in Greensboro, North Carolina, close to the site where the Wright brothers pioneered at Kitty Hawk, to manufacture the Hondajet targeted at an increasingly wealthy customer base in North America and Europe. These two major strategic decisions are strong indications that current CEO and Honda visionary Takeo Fukui is taking the company back to what founder Soichiro Honda envisioned as a global technological innovator pursuing new frontiers.

Keywords: Fuel Cell Vehicle; North American Market; Strong Reputation; Automotive Market; Alternative Fuel Vehicle (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1057/9780230236912_6

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