Honda has made well over 300 million motorcycles since setting up shop in 1949. Now car production has also hit nine figures, with the 100 millionth vehicle being produced as 2016 draws to a close.
It was a close run thing...
Honda hasn't specified which of its 34 global plants produced the 100 millionth model, nor reveal what car it was. Was it the Civic, which numbers one in five of all Honda cars ever made? Was it a US-market Honda, a nation that buys around 1.5 million of them a year? Could it even be one built in Swindon, a factory buoyant after receiving £200 million investment to make the new Civic hatch? We will try to find out (these things matter).
In the meantime, it got us thinking. 100 million is a lot of Hondas. So we thought we'd pick our eight favourites. Limiting it was hard, so you'll probably scream that we haven't including a piece of Honda automotive godliness.
Indulge us then, with our own favourites. What are yours? Let us know below if you agree, or disagree, or think we need sacking for not including such and such...
The sports car that put Honda on the map. The S600 was the first (relatively) mainstream Honda, while the S800 was the truly fascinating one: 70hp at 8,000rpm from the 781cc four-cylinder, plus the ability to rev up to 10,000rpm. Bizarre that Honda didn't follow it up until 1999, really.
Yup, Honda's 50th birthday present to itself. The 2.0-litre VTEC revved to 9,000rpm and handling of the early cars was, shall we say, interesting. I terrified myself in one simply driving innocuously onto the M6. Did I still love it though? Of course I did. Still do.
The enthusiast's eco car, only Honda could make a hybrid infused with the same engineering kudos as the NSX and S2000. An engineering marvel, this brilliant car drove around Britain in 2000 and averaged 103mpg. Buy one and future-proof your motoring life.
A Civic Type R how it should be done. The 2006 JDM car had 225hp, making it more powerful than the European alternative. It was also sold as a four-door saloon, not a three-door hatch, and had independent rear suspension rather than a twist-beam. Bingo.
With the 2002 NSX-R, Honda went weight-saving crazy. If you thought no sound insulation or air-con was extreme, get this: Honda even junked the power steering. Its brilliant engineers then sweated over every single aspect of it to realise every tiny gain possible, as if money was no object. It probably wasn't: how else could something be this good?
Seriously, what's not to like here? Extra spot welds to strengthen the chassis, less sound insulation, more power, thinner glass, helical LSD... a miraculous car to drive, it was this writer's default choice when playing Gran Turismo. You?
If the DC2 was an obvious enthusiast's delight, the Accord Type R was much more of a Q-car. Itself blinding to drive, you had to be sharp to spot the twin exhausts, the bootlid spoiler and hunkered suspension, not least because Honda also sold it as a Sport. That didn't have a 220hp 2.2-litre VTEC though...
Prelude. What a cool name. One with VTEC, and four-wheel steer, and aluminium double wishbone suspension, and umpteen other pure engineering delights. What a cool car. If Toyota can bring back the Supra, surely Honda can revive the Prelude?
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