Honda Australia's Strategic Marketing Plan - Case Study Example

The paper "Honda Australia's Strategic Marketing Plan" is a good example of a case study on marketing. Honda was founded by Soichiro Honda and the pursuit of dreams is an intrinsic part of the Honda success story. The motivation for delivering the highest quality product is the power of dreams. There is a wide range of unique products that are manufactured and sold by Honda, ranging from brush cutters to corporate jets. In between these two extremes are motor cars, scooters, outboard engines, and power equipment. No other manufacturer has as wide a range as Honda. In 2004 they produced in excess of 19,600,000 engines, which means they were the largest manufacturer in the world. There are an estimated one million Honda products used in Australia daily in terms of motorbikes, engines, power equipment, outboards, and motor vehicles. The engineers continuously endeavor to find innovative means to increase the safety and efficiency of fuel use.

The company began in 1948 by Soichiro Honda who was a talented mostly self-taught engineer, who had engaged in various businesses since leaving school. The inception of Honda Motor Company came about because of the frustration experienced in post-war Japan in accessing sufficient fuel. Soichiro used lateral thinking to construct a motorized bicycle by utilizing a small war surplus generator engine. The concept became popular and soon he was receiving orders from near and far. Honda became the largest manufacturer of motorcycles by 1955, through an amalgam of hard work, good products and good luck (bikedeadline.com.au, 2006).

Worldwide expansion soon followed in the motorcycle sector and its first cars appeared in 1963 including the coupe and sedan Seven and Nine series which preceded the Civic and Accord ranges currently in circulation. This was going on simultaneously with the expansion of the motorcycle division which covered every market. The ‘H type’ small engine from Honda was developed in tandem with the motorcycle range as well as the GB30 which was the first outboard engine released in July 1964. In addition to manufacturing, Honda has an affinity for competition stemming from Soichiro Honda’s passion which saw him compete in the 1930s with a self-constructed car and therefore it became a logical extension of the activities of the firm.

In the sixties, Honda began to develop prototypes of road cars. The first vehicle in this range was the T360 and the tiny truck had a 360cc, 30 horsepower engine. The first car produced by Honda was launched two months later and it was known as the S500 which was a 2 door roadster with a 49cc engine 44 horsepower. Several features of this vehicle were characteristic of Honda’s extensive knowledge of motorbikes including the 4-speed transmission driving the rear wheels by a chain and the high redline.

The sixties marked a period of success for Honda, not just in car and motorcycle manufacture but also in winning their first F1 race in Mexico.