Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC)

Honda opened its year to March 2027 with sales revenue of 6,061.5 billion yen for April to June, up 13.5 percent 2. Operating profit, what the business earns from selling its products after its costs, rose 117.4 percent to 530.7 billion yen 2. The company credits mainly the electric vehicle losses that weighed on the same quarter a year earlier, along with tariff impacts 2.

That rebound follows a year of heavy losses 1. In the year to March 2026 Honda booked 1,577.8 billion yen of losses and expenses in its car business after cancelling electric models, and ended with an operating loss of 414.3 billion yen 1. Its motorcycles kept earning, with operating profit up 10.3 percent to 731.9 billion yen 1.

On 5 August Honda raised its forecast for the year's operating profit to 650.0 billion yen from 500.0 billion, mainly because it now assumes 155 yen to the dollar rather than 145 2. It still warns that more payments to suppliers over the cancelled electric models may arise and cannot yet be estimated 2. Results for the half year to September are scheduled for 11 November 2026 25.

Honda began in 1946, when Soichiro Honda set up a business making motors for motorized bicycles, and was incorporated in September 1948 1. It began mass producing motorcycles in 1949 with the Dream D-Type, and by 1957 it was Japan's largest motorcycle maker by production 1. It set up American Honda Motor in the United States in 1959 1.

Cars came in 1963 with the T360 mini truck and the S500 sports car, followed by the Civic in 1972 and the Accord in 1976 1. In 1982 Honda became the first Japanese carmaker to build cars in the United States, starting with the Accord, and in 1986 it launched the Acura brand 1.

The pandemic year to March 2021 cut sales revenue by 11.8 percent to 13,170.5 billion yen, as every business sold less 12. Operating profit still edged up 4.2 percent to 660.2 billion yen, because Honda cut selling and administrative costs and kept reducing costs 12.

In the year to March 2022 a shortage of semiconductors forced Honda to halt or slow car and motorcycle production at some plants 12. Sales revenue still rose 10.5 percent to 14,552.6 billion yen, and operating profit rose 32.0 percent to 871.2 billion yen, helped by currency effects 12.

In the year to March 2023 operating profit fell 10.4 percent to 780.7 billion yen, on lower sales and higher warranty costs 13. Then in the year to March 2024 sales revenue rose 20.8 percent to 20,428.8 billion yen, and operating profit jumped 77.0 percent to 1,381.9 billion yen, mainly on pricing, cost gains and sales 13.

On 23 December 2024 Honda and Nissan agreed to study combining under a joint holding company 10. They dropped the plan on 13 February 2025, after Honda proposed instead making Nissan a wholly owned subsidiary through a share swap, and agreed to work together as strategic partners 11.

The year to March 2025 brought sales revenue of 21,688.7 billion yen, but operating profit fell 12.2 percent to 1,213.4 billion yen, on lower sales and higher research spending 1. Then the electric bet turned 4. On 12 March 2026 the board cancelled electric models that had been planned for production in North America 4.

Honda said the end of United States tax incentives for electric car buyers and looser fuel rules had slowed that market, while import tariffs hurt its petrol and hybrid business 4. The year to March 2026 ended with a loss to shareholders of 423.9 billion yen 1. Sony Honda Mobility, its venture with Sony, then dropped its first car, the AFEELA 1, because the Honda technology it relied on was no longer coming 5.

Cars and light trucks

Cars are Honda's largest business, with sales revenue of 13,863.3 billion yen in the year to March 2026, 64 percent of the total 1. Consolidated sales fell 4.5 percent to 2,711 thousand vehicles, mainly in Asia and North America, and the business lost 1,411.1 billion yen after the electric write-offs 1. Light trucks such as the CR-V, Pilot and HR-V made up 57 percent of retail sales 1.

In April to June the car business swung back to a segment profit of 192.1 billion yen, from a loss of 29.6 billion a year earlier 2. In China its joint ventures sold 586 thousand cars in the year to March 2026, down 25.4 percent, in a market where Honda says new electric carmakers have sharpened competition 1.

The CR-V compact SUV lists from $33,070 to $38,850 for the 2027 model, and Car and Driver rates it 10 out of 10, calling it "a benchmark for quiet, comfortable, accomplished family transport" 19. MotorTrend gives the 2026 CR-V 9.2 out of 10 and praises its "user-friendly interior layout" 22. Car and Driver ranks the Mazda CX-50 and Toyota RAV4 among its rivals in the class 19.

The Civic small car lists from $26,290 to $35,190 for 2027 and also earns 10 out of 10 from Car and Driver, which says it has none of "the cheap-car feel" 20. MotorTrend rates the 2026 Civic 9.3 out of 10 23. Car and Driver names the Accord sedan its "number one pick in the family sedan segment" 21.

Motorcycles

Honda's group, including partners it does not consolidate, sold 22,101 thousand motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and side-by-sides in the year to March 2026, about 85 percent of them in Asia 1. The business earned sales revenue of 4,018.8 billion yen, up 10.8 percent, and an operating profit of 731.9 billion yen 1.

India leads: the Activa scooter and the SP series lifted Asian unit sales 6.8 percent to 11,310 thousand 1. In September 2026 dispatches by Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India rose 24 percent, behind only Hero MotoCorp and ahead of TVS Motor, Autocar India reported 24. Brazil added 19.8 percent more units, led by the Pop 110i ES and the CG 160 1.

Financial services

Honda's finance companies lend to buyers, lease vehicles and fund dealers' stock in countries including Japan, the United States and Brazil 1. They brought in sales revenue of 3,529.4 billion yen in the year to March 2026, 16 percent of the total and 2,895.5 billion of it in North America 1. Their operating profit was 275.5 billion yen 1.

Power products and aircraft

Honda has made engines, generators, water pumps, lawn mowers and tillers since its first general purpose engine in 1953, and has delivered HondaJet business aircraft since December 2015 1. The unit sold 3,589 thousand power products for sales revenue of 384.9 billion yen and lost 10.6 billion yen, with aircraft and aircraft engines losing 37.2 billion 1.

Plants and people

Honda owns its main plants, from Suzuka and Yorii in Japan to Marysville and East Liberty in Ohio, Lincoln in Alabama, Alliston in Canada, Celaya in Mexico and Manaus in Brazil 1. It had 195,109 full-time employees on 31 March 2026, 131,856 of them in the car business 1.

Toshihiro Mibe, who joined Honda in 1987, is president and chief executive, and Masao Kawaguchi is chief financial officer 1. Shareholders re-elected Mibe in June 2026 with 90.08 percent of the votes, the lowest share among the 11 directors 183. The company said an outside director would chair the board from that meeting 3.

Problems

Tariffs remain the sore point: Honda lists them with the electric write-offs as the main reasons for its car losses 1. It cannot yet estimate further payments owed to suppliers over the cancelled electric models, nor future losses from airbag inflator recalls 2. In May 2024 it told Japan's transport ministry of improper certification tests on some past four-wheeled vehicles 1.

The umbrella, in words

Honda sells under the Honda name and, for upscale cars, Acura, and it had 53 Japanese and 229 overseas subsidiaries on 31 March 2026 1. The principal ones its annual report lists include Honda R&D, American Honda Motor, American Honda Finance, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India and Moto Honda da Amazonia in Brazil, all owned outright 1.

Honda owns 40 percent of Astemo, a parts maker formed in 2021 from Hitachi's car parts arm and three Honda suppliers, and agreed to buy another 21 percent from Hitachi to reach 61 percent 6. It owns half of GAC Honda in China, 40 percent directly and 10 percent through its China holding company 9. Sony Honda Mobility is its joint venture with Sony Group 1.

It shares L-H Battery Company, a joint venture, with LG Energy Solution and plans to convert part of its electric battery lines to hybrid batteries 14. Its Schedule 13G filing reports an 11.5 percent stake in Micware, a Japanese company whose shares trade on Nasdaq 17.

Honda knows of no one who controls it 1. Its largest holders of record are trust banks holding for others: The Master Trust Bank of Japan with 17.5 percent and Custody Bank of Japan with 7.1 percent 1. BlackRock reported 6.1 percent in July 2025 1.

For the year to March 2027 Honda forecasts sales revenue of 24,150.0 billion yen, operating profit of 650.0 billion yen and profit for shareholders of 400.0 billion yen 2. It plans a dividend of 70 yen a share, paid in two halves of 35 yen 2. It plans capital spending of 1,250.0 billion yen this year, 1,034.3 billion of it in cars 1.

Mibe said on 14 May 2026 that Honda plans to rebuild its car business by March 2029 and aims for a record operating profit of more than 1.4 trillion yen that year 14. It plans to invest 6.2 trillion yen over those years: 4.4 trillion in petrol and hybrid cars, 1.0 trillion in software and about 0.8 trillion in electric cars 14. It aims for its 10 percent return on invested capital in the year to March 2031 14.

From 2027 it plans next-generation hybrids on a new hybrid system and platform, 15 of them by March 2030, with larger hybrids in North America in 2029 14. It aims to cut the hybrid system's cost by more than 30 percent from its 2023 system, and plans new driver assistance and an N-BOX electric mini car in 2028 14. In India it plans to lift motorcycle capacity from 6.25 million a year to about 8 million in 2028 14.

Honda now plans to close the Astemo purchase by the end of the third quarter of its year to March 2027 7. Control units and software developed with Nissan are planned for both companies' cars from fiscal year 2029 8. A Honda pickup based on Mitsubishi's Triton is scheduled to go on sale in Southeast Asia in 2028, and the GAC Honda venture now runs through 2038 159.

Sony and Honda say they intend to announce the future direction of Sony Honda Mobility at the earliest possible opportunity 5. Its plan to build a full electric vehicle supply chain in Ontario, Canada, is suspended indefinitely 3.