Honda company earns almost ₹2 crore every minute. Today, it makes bikes, cars, private jets, and even robots. But surprisingly, all this started with a poor boy who didn't even have a cycle in his childhood.
The story begins in 1906. Soichiro Honda was born in a small town in Japan. His father was blacksmith and his mother worked as a seamstress.
His financial condition was very bad. It was so bad that he couldn't even provide basic medical care to Soichiro's 5 brothers and sisters. And lost them in his childhood itself.
One way to get out of this condition was to study and get a job in the future. But unfortunately, Soichiro was also very weak in studies. But there was still one hope left.
And that was machines. As a kid, Soichiro used to go to a rice mill with his grandfather. The specialty of the mill was that a petrol-powered motor was used to work there.
Which was very rare at that time. The sound of the motor, the smoke coming out of it and the smell of petrol seemed very fascinating to him. And seeing this motor, he developed a passion in motors and machines.
At the age of 11, something happened with Soichiro that gave his very passion a life-changing direction. For the first time in his life, he had seen a car. Soichiro was fully mesmerized by that car.
As soon as he saw that car, without a second thought started chasing it. When the car stopped at a distance, a small amount of petrol leaked under it. He literally bowed down and smelled the petrol and put it on his hands.
And at the same time, he decided that one day he'll make his own car. In the year 1922, Soichiro saw an ad in a magazine. There was a garage in Tokyo called Art Shokai which was looking for workers.
In those days, repairing cars in a garage was a dream job for Soichiro. So without any delay, he applied for the job. And luckily, he got hired too.
He quit his studies and just at the age of 14, in search of his destiny, started heading towards the city of Tokyo. Soichiro was very happy. He was finally going to work on things for which he was passionate for years.
But the reality was something else. From the very beginning, the owner of Art Shokai assigned Soichiro the task of cleaning and babysitting. Months passed but he was not even allowed to touch the cars.
He was now losing hope. He often thought of leaving the job and going back home. But he only stayed back because after this failure, he didn't have the courage to face his parents.
In 1923, there was a major earthquake in Japan. The Great Kanto Earthquake. Entire Japan saw massive destruction.
But surprisingly, this very earthquake proved to be lucky for Soichiro. After the earthquake, most of the mechanics of Art Shokai returned to their villages to repair their respective homes. Now the garage was only left with Soichiro and one more employee.
So finally, the owner had to hire Soichiro for car repairing. Not only was he now learning car repairing, but he also got a chance to drive motorcycles and cars for testing Everyone was surprised to see Soichiro's work. He soon became the best mechanic there and he kept getting promoted regularly.
Meanwhile, the popularity of motorsports was increasing in Japan. So the owner of Art Shokai asked Soichiro to assemble a racing car. Soichiro took the second-hand engine of the American Curtiss biplane.
Using the body of an American car named Mitchell, assembled a racing car. This car was named as Curtiss. In the 1924 Japanese Motor Car Championship, this car participated and got the first position.
In this race, Soichiro played the role of an accompanying engineer. This was a special experience for Soichiro. And after this, motorsports became Soichiro's new obsession.
But he had no idea that this obsession in the future would prove life-threatening for him. In 1928, Art Shokai decided to open a branch in Soichiro's town of Hamamatsu. And on a partnership basis made Soichiro the in-charge of this store.
The same Soichiro who a few years ago was not even allowed to touch cars. Everyone hoped that Soichiro's shop would become an instant success. But the exact opposite happened.
This shop failed miserably. Soichiro was only 21 years old. And no customer wanted to give the responsibility of his car to such a young boy.
So customers would just not come to his garage. To stop the garage from closing, Soichiro needed to find a solution as soon as possible. He observed that other garages failed to repair a car many times.
Or they used to call the car impossible to repair. In such cases, it was only Soichiro who guaranteed to repair those cars. And used to actually repair them too.
Because of this, he developed a strong reputation in the market. In the next few years, his shop grew very fast. In 1931, when he turned 25 years old, every month, he was earning a profit of 1,000 yen.
And he had made a team of 50 people. During this time, Honda not only started assembling race cars again, but also started taking part in racing tournaments. By 1936, they won many races.
And started seeing his future career in motorsports. But then a terrible tragedy happened with him. But before moving ahead, I want to tell you about something that can make you rich.
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In July 1936, while racing, his car met with a major accident. When Soichiro opened his eyes in the hospital, he was feeling acute pain in the whole body. His face was badly injured.
Left shoulder was dislocated and wrist was fractured. Sadly, Honda had no option but to leave racing forever. It took him full 18 months to recover.
And during this time, he decided to start automobile parts manufacturing. He was now going to manufacture piston rings. Piston rings are an important component in cars.
And at that time, it was also in a lot of demand. He gave the responsibility of the garage to his employees and in 1937 established a company named Tokai Seiki. He hired 50 new employees and bought a lot of expensive machines.
He had no experience of making piston rings. That's why his family and friends warned him against this business. But Soichiro didn't agree.
He opined, if I see something only once, then I can make it. I can build anything if I see it just once. He started working with his workers day and night in the factory.
Many months passed and all his savings started to run out. Ultimately, to keep the factory running, he had to sell his wife's jewelry. But even after all this, he failed to make a proper piston ring.
Finally, Soichiro realized that he didn't have sufficient knowledge to make a proper piston ring. That's why at the age of 31, he got admitted to Hamamatsu High School as a special student to study metallurgy. He applied his learnings in the factory.
And finally, in November 1937, he made an acceptable piston ring. In the next 2 years, he was not only successfully supplying piston rings to Toyota and other companies but also started making parts and machinery for the Navy. By 1940s, he had set up a massive plant and his business was growing very fast.
But then comes a major twist in the story. It was the time of World War II and Japan and America were fighting each other in a war. One day during the war, American fighter jets bombed from the sky and badly damaged Soichiro's plant.
He was just recovering from this incident but in 1945, a major earthquake occurs in the Hamamatsu area. And his plant gets completely destroyed. After the war, his years of hard work and his country, both were ruined.
He had come back to zero. Soichiro sold his company's remaining assets for ¥4. 5 lakh and took a break from work.
During this time, he got a Japanese army generator which the army used to run its wireless radios. After examining the engine, Soichiro came up with an idea which laid the foundation of today's Honda company. Actually, after the war, there was an acute shortage of fuel due to which it's price went quite high.
That's why most people had to travel everywhere by cycle. Soichiro's idea was to motorize this same cycle. For this task, in 1946, he started the Honda Technical Research Institute.
Using his skills, he modified this military engine and fitted it in the cycles. Which ultimately made way to an affordable motorcycle. And it also became an instant success.
But there were two problems. First, he had only 500 military engines left. But the demand was very high.
Second, even the military engines ran on petrol. And petrol was very expensive. To solve these problems, Soichiro designed his own engine.
And started making motorcycles using it. The special thing about these motorcycles was that they didn't need 100% petrol to run them. The fuel made by mixing the resin made from the root of pine tree and petrol, could also run these motorcycles.
This was the reason why Soichiro's makeshift motorcycle sold like hot cakes. After this success, Soichiro dreamed of making a proper motorcycle. And to achieve this, he established the Honda Motor Company.
And just after a year, in 1949, he made his first complete motorcycle. He named it, Dram. But unfortunately, this motorcycle failed in the market.
Dram motorcycle's speed and style were both very good. But it was also heavy and expensive. Due to which it was not suitable for common Japanese men.
After this failure, Soichiro decided to make a perfect motorcycle for the middle class. The biggest problem was that, the engines that generated more power were much bigger and heavier. Due to which the entire bike became heavy.
So in 1952, Soichiro designed a engine called Cub. Which was very small in size but very powerful. This innovation according to that era, was a very big achievement.
Due to that he even got Japan's Blue Ribbon award. The engine was made and now it was time to make a motorcycle. He traveled the whole world, met many experts and understood the motorcycle design deeply.
And finally, in 1958, he launched his revolutionary two-wheeler, the Super Cub. Super Cub was an affordable and highly efficient motorcycle. Its biggest feature was that literally anyone could drive it.
So just after being launched, it almost instantly killed the competition in Japan. By the early 1960s, Honda had become the number one in the Japanese market. Along with that every year, they were exporting millions of motorcycles to the nearby countries.
But the biggest market in the world was still to be captured. And that market was America. At that time, the reputation of motorcycles was very bad in America.
People there believed that motorcycles were only used by criminals and biker gangs. To change this image, they used prestigious and popular magazines like Time, Life, and Look to advertise their motorcycles. But they very smartly, didn't use the word motorcycle in any ad.
Honda wanted the decent people of America to accept their motorcycles. That's why they strategically selected the tagline of their ads. Their tagline was, "You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda".
They showed in this ad the common people like housewives, working professionals and students driving a Honda. This marketing strategy was so successful that by 1968, Honda sold 10 lakh motorcycles in America. And by 1973, it captured 43% of its market share.
Honda was on a roll. They were launching new and improved models one by one. And in the 1960s itself, they had become the biggest motorcycle brand in the world.
But Soichiro's childhood dream was still incomplete. Now it was time to fulfil that. To make his own cars.
In the 1960s, there were already companies like Toyota, Nissan, and Suzuki in Japan who were ruling the car market. The competition was very stiff. That's why everyone stopped Soichiro from entering car manufacturing.
But Soichiro had already taken a decision. By investing massive time and money, launched his first four-wheeler in 1963. But his first four-wheeler was not a car.
It was a pickup truck called T360. Unfortunately, this truck was a commercial failure. Honda's start was not good.
But like always, never gave up. He got success in the motorcycle market, when he made a motorcycle for a common man. Similarly, in 1967, for a common Japanese family, he launched Honda N360.
Which was a spacious and high-mileage car. But its USP was its price. N360 was around 25% cheaper than its competitors.
That's why as soon as it was launched, it disrupted the Japanese market. Had achieved success in Japan but still had to make a global impact with his four-wheeler. In the 1970s, Honda spotted a huge opportunity.
At that time, the whole world was reeling under an oil crisis. Due to which fuel was very expensive. At the same time, the US government was very concerned about the pollution caused by automobile.
The right question of the 70s is, shall we surrender to our surroundings, or shall we make our peace with nature and begin to make reparations for the damage we have done to our air, to our land, and to our life. Due to this, through the Clean Air Act, they imposed strict regulations on automobile companies. That means, now for them to do business, had to modify their engines in such a way, that it would pollute less.
After this regulation, all the car companies hired lawyers and filed cases against the US Government. But on the other hand, Honda hired better engineers instead of lawyers and started working on making its engine better. In the next few years, Honda launched the Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion Engine, in short CVCC engine.
In the automobile industry, this was a major breakthrough. This engine was not only phenomenal in terms of pollution standards. But it was also fuel efficient.
And no other company's engine even came near it. Honda In 1975, launched its Honda Civic with this engine. This car was 100% satisfying the requirements of both the customers and the government.
And as expected, it shook the American car market. Honda Civic went on to become one of the most popular cars in the world. And its new models are still sold in the market.
The all-new 2022 Honda Civic sedan. After this success, there was no looking back. After this Honda launched models like Honda Accord and Honda City.
Which successfully targeted upscale customer segments too. Finally, Soichiro Honda made cars that along with him fascinated the entire world. The big dream of a boy from a small city in Japan had now come true.
Soichiro Honda said that "success is 99% failure". We all are somehow scared of failure. But Soichiro Honda's life story proves that failures are a crucial part of everyone's journey.
Every failure is an opportunity to learn, to improve, and ultimately to succeed. Finally, I would like to remind you that you can download Kuku FM from the link given in the description and pinned comment. And using my discount code SHIVANSHU50 can claim 50% off on your first month subscription.
