Honda began in 1946 by bolting surplus army radio engines onto bicycles in a wooden shed in Hamamatsu. Its cars have worn an H since 1963, and in 2026 that H was redrawn for the first time in decades.
- Country
-
Japan - Active
- Since 1948
- Founded by
- Soichiro Honda, Takeo Fujisawa
- Website
- Official website ↗
A wooden shed in Hamamatsu
Honda began with a pile of surplus army engines. In September 1946 Soichiro Honda, a blacksmith’s son who had run a car repair branch at 21 and a piston ring factory at 30, put up a wooden building in Hamamatsu with a signboard that read Honda Technical Research Institute. His first idea was simple. He bought about 500 small generator engines, originally built to power military radios, and bolted them to bicycles.
Each engine was taken apart, refined, reassembled and test ridden before it was sold. Locals nicknamed them bata-bata, after the sound of the exhaust. Sales started in October 1946, and in 1947 came the first product to carry the Honda name: the A-Type auxiliary engine.
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. itself was founded on 24 September 1948 in Itaya-machi, Hamamatsu, with a starting capital of one million yen. The company simply took its founder’s family name. A year later the other half of the story arrived. Takeo Fujisawa met Soichiro Honda in August 1949, closed his own business and joined as managing director that October. Honda did the making, Fujisawa did the selling. Both men later described the partnership the same way: “He had some things I didn’t have.”
The Dream D-Type of August 1949 was Honda’s first complete motorcycle, frame included, painted an unusual maroon. The Super Cub followed in 1958 and the company declared its intention to race at the Isle of Man TT in 1954. Cars came surprisingly late. Honda’s first four-wheeled product, the T360 light truck, arrived in 1963.
The winged goddess on the fuel tank
Long before there was an H, there was a wing. The first Honda mark, from 1948, showed a female figure racing through the sky in front of bold HONDA lettering. Honda says the figure was inspired by Nike, the Greek goddess of victory from the Winged Victory of Samothrace, with wings modelled on those of an eagle. It is thought that Soichiro Honda drew it himself, although the company admits there are no records to prove it. Staff painted each mark by hand onto the tank of the Model A engine, so no two were quite alike.
Wings on their own appeared in 1953. In 1955 the single wing design that motorcyclists know today took shape on the Dream SA, fixed to face forward on both sides of the tank. The feathers were simplified in 1968, and from 1968 to 2000 the wing served as the official Honda logo on every product the company made, cars included. A version proposed by Honda employees followed in 1988, and the wing was refreshed again in 2001. Through all of it, Honda says the mark has stood for flight, reliability, speed, tradition and honour.
The H: from 1963 to two outstretched hands
Honda’s cars have carried their own badge since 1963, the year the T360 went on sale. According to Honda, the H mark has been the symbol of its automobiles ever since and has undergone several design changes along the way. Honda has never published an explanation of what the original H was meant to express beyond the obvious initial, so this page won’t invent one.
According to Hagerty, the badge turned tall and slim in 1969, usually a white H on a black background, and the 1981 redesign settled on an H of intermediate proportions inside a soft cornered trapezoid. That 1981 shape is the one Honda itself calls the current H mark. Around 2000, again per Hagerty, the printed version gained a three-dimensional chrome look that mimicked the metal badges on the cars.
Then came CES in Las Vegas, January 2024. Alongside the Honda 0 Series concepts, Honda unveiled a new H mark that it described as looking like two outstretched hands. The company says the shape expresses its commitment to expanding the possibilities of mobility and its determination to go beyond its origins and keep taking on new challenges. The flat, open H has no background shape at all.
At first the new mark was reserved for the next-generation electric cars. On 13 January 2026 Honda went further and adopted it as the symbol of its entire automobile business. It is scheduled to appear on next-generation EV and hybrid models from 2027 onwards, and also at dealerships, in communications and in Honda’s car racing activities. Honda frames the change as part of what it calls its second founding.
Two marks, two worlds. The wing stays on the motorcycles. The H, old or new, belongs to the cars.
The cars that wore the H
Honda was already a motorcycle giant when it built its first car, and it has often approached four wheels from an unexpected angle. Here are the milestones Honda itself picks out of its own history.
Landmark Hondas, decade by decade
- 1963: T360. Honda’s first kei truck and the vehicle that marked its start as an automaker.
- 1967: N360. A small car launched in Japan at a price of 313,000 yen.
- 1972: Civic. A front-wheel-drive design, followed in 1973 by a low-pollution CVCC engine version.
- 1988: McLaren-Honda MP4/4. Honda engines powered McLaren to 15 wins in 16 Formula One races that season.
- 1994: Odyssey. The first of Honda’s Creative Mover minivans.
- 2020: Honda e. Honda’s compact electric car.
Honda is an independent manufacturer and sells upmarket models under its Acura brand. At home it competes with Toyota and Nissan. For more on how badges like the H are put together, see how car logos are designed.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Honda H logo mean?
Honda has not published a meaning for the original 1963 H beyond the company initial. For the new H mark shown in 2024, Honda says the shape resembles two outstretched hands and expresses its commitment to expanding the possibilities of mobility.
Why do Honda motorcycles have a wing instead of an H?
The wing is older than the H. It dates back to 1948, when a winged figure inspired by Nike of Samothrace appeared on Honda’s first engines. Honda says it stands for flight, reliability, speed, tradition and honour, and it remains the mark of the motorcycle business.
When is Honda changing its logo?
The new H mark debuted at CES in January 2024 for the 0 Series electric cars. In January 2026 Honda adopted it for its whole automobile business, with next-generation EV and hybrid models carrying it from 2027 onwards.
Who founded Honda?
Soichiro Honda set up the Honda Technical Research Institute in Hamamatsu in 1946 and founded Honda Motor Co., Ltd. in September 1948. Takeo Fujisawa joined as managing director in 1949 and ran the business side. Both retired in 1973.
From bata-bata to the H: the facts
- Founded
- 1948
- Founder
- Soichiro Honda, Takeo Fujisawa
- Country
- Japan
- Headquarters
- Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
- Current emblem
- A flat H with open sides, described by Honda as two outstretched hands, unveiled in January 2024 and adopted for the whole automobile business in January 2026
- Known for
- Civic, Accord, the Super Cub and Formula One engines
- Website
- Official website ↗
