Honda Motor Co., Ltd. is a Japanese manufacturer of automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, and scooters. On September 24, 1948 Honda Motor Co. was founded. Soichiro Honda took advantage of a gap in the Japanese market that was Decimated by World War II, Japan was starved of money and fuel, but still in need of basic transport. Honda, utilizing his manufacturing facilities, attached an engine to a bicycle, creating the cheap and efficient transport that was required. Honda began producing road cars in 1960, mostly intended for the Japanese market. Honda was also the first Japanese automaker to introduce a separate luxury line of vehicles. Created in 1986 and known as Acura, the line is made up of modified versions of Honda vehicles usually with more power and sportiness than their Honda counterparts.

1989 saw a move that was set to revolutionalize the way carmakers tuned their engines. Honda launched their VTEC variable valve timing system in its production car engines, which gave improved efficiency and performance across a broader range of engine speeds. One of the first of its kind in passenger vehicles, it worked on the premise of tuning one engine to operate at two different 'settings' depending on load. Normal driving would use a "shorter" cam lobe that resulted in more efficient operation. A more aggressive, longer duration, cam engages when engine RPM reaches a set point resulting in more power during hard acceleration. The driver gets the best of both worlds; high efficiency and high power on demand. Many automakers have introduced their own versions of variable valve timing. The technology is now standard across the whole Honda range.

For the 2007 model year, Honda plans to improve the safety of its vehicles by providing front-seat side airbags, side-curtain airbags, and anti-lock brakes as standard equipment in all automobiles available in North America (except the Insight, S2000, and Acura NSX, which will not have side-curtain airbags). By 2006, Honda plans to have as standard equipment Vehicle Safety Assist and rollover sensors in all light trucks, including the CR-V, Odyssey, and Acura MDX. Honda also plans to make its vehicles safer for pedestrians, with more safely-designed hoods, hinges, frame constructs, and breakaway wiper pivots.