Honda Power Equipment history

In 1922, nearing the end of his high school years, the young Soichiro travelled to Tokyo to work for Art Shokai, an automobile service and repair company.

In 1928, he was asked to establish a branch of the company in Hamamatsu.

He later handed over control of Art Shokai Hamamatsu to his employees, and established Tokai Seiki Heavy Industries with the intention of manufacturing automotive piston rings, becoming the president of the company in 1936.

In 1946, immediately following the end of the war, he founded the Honda Technical Research Institute with the aim of pursuing research and manufacturing of internal combustion engines and various machine tools.

In 1952, four years after the founding of Honda Motor Company, Honda released the Cub F auxiliary engine, which was half the weight of its predecessors while offering significantly better riding and operating performance.

Since 1953, Honda has manufactured over 100 million power products worldwide.

The year 1954 was also the year that Soichiro Honda declared his intention to participate in the U.K.’s Isle of Man TT motorcycle races.

In 1963, Honda decided to release the G20 and G30 general-purpose engines as lightweight and compact models that could be put to a wide range of uses.

In 1969, the total cumulative production of Honda general-purpose power products surpassed 1 million units.

In 1973 Honda introduced Honda Generators, Tillers and Outboards into the United States Market.

Then, in 1977, Honda released its G150/200 general-purpose engine, the first developed under the new ME concept.

Having worked to solve the issues that most concerned customers, such as starting ease and performance, durability and quietness, these efforts culminated in the 1978 release of the HR21 walk-behind lawnmower, the first of its kind for Honda.

By 1981, Honda’s total production output of power products reached the 5 million mark.

Honda's North Carolina Research and Development Center is an 11,000 square foot facility established in 1993 that conducts product engineering, prototype development, and testing of power equipment products.

Honda’s GX series of OHV (overhead valve) engines—which had become the industry standard for OEM-supplied engines—adapted to the constant need for better environmental performance to become the GC/GCV series in 1997.

Honda’s response was to release the GENE 21 series of next-generation portable generators in 1998.

Released in 2001, the Snowla HS1390i was the world’s first hybrid snowblower, using a gasoline engine to power the blower while its tracks were driven by an electric motor.