The auto industry has a very confusing family tree. The past decade has seen partnerships, sales, separations, bankruptcies, and entire divisions killed off, making it difficult to keep up with who owns which car brands.
As automakers slim down to become more profitable and efficient, we''ve seen storied names, such as Mercury, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac, fade into the history books. We''ve also seen others, such as Chrysler, Jaguar, and Volvo, find new corporate parents outside their original country. And new companies have risen, such as Rivian and Tesla.
Several brands that have been retired are included in the list, such as Scion, because models are still available on the used-car market. We''ve omitted small-volume brands, such as Aston Martin and Ferrari, that are without major automaker parent companies.
Of course, the list is subject to change. To find out how the major brands compare in reliability, owner satisfaction, and road-test performance, see our brand report cards.
Here we list each major car brand and its parent corporation—Brand: Parent Company—including some retired brands whose products are still readily available as used cars.
*Retired brand, but many are still sold as used cars.
Here''s a list of the major car corporations that sell in the U.S., the country where their global headquarters is based, and the brands they currently offer here.
The American Honda Motor Company, Inc. (sometimes abbreviated as AHM) is the North American subsidiary of Japanese Honda Motor Company. Founded in 1959, the company combines product sales, service and coordinating functions of Honda in North America, and is responsible for distribution, marketing and sales of Honda and Acura brand automobiles, Honda Powersports products (motorcycles, scooters and all-terrain vehicles), Honda Power Equipment products (garden tools and generators), Honda Engines products, Honda Marine engines, and the HondaJet aircraft.
As of 2022[update], Honda-brand automobile models include the Accord, Civic, CR-V, HR-V, Odyssey, Passport, Pilot and Ridgeline. Acura-brand models are the Integra, MDX, NSX, RDX, and TLX. Honda claims several firsts for a Japanese car maker in the United States. The company was the first to create a subsidiary to market and sell its vehicles in the country, and the first to manufacture automobiles in North America.[1][2][3]
American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Honda''s first overseas subsidiary opened in Los Angeles in 1959 which was unusual for the time, as other foreign auto companies typically relied on independent distributors.[3]
In 1960, the first full year of operations, American Honda sold fewer than 2,000 motorcycles through three product lines: the Dream, Benly and Honda 50 (Super Cub). The following year, Honda established 500 motorcycle dealers and spent $150,000 on advertising in regions where it operated ($1,544,882 in 2023 dollars [5]). Honda''s expansion into new U.S. markets was undertaken one region at a time over a five-year period, starting on the West Coast and moving east, creating new demand for motorcycles.
As of 2018, Honda employed more than 31,000 associates in the U.S. with a payroll of $2.5 billion. Another 159,000 workers are employed at authorized dealerships in the U.S., and tens of thousands more work for the company''s 607 U.S. original equipment (OEM) suppliers.[13]
Honda first introduced passenger cars to the North American market in 1970 with sales of the Honda N600 sedan through 32 dealers in the western United States. The first Honda car sold in the United States was sold and retired at the same dealership at Manly Honda, in Santa Rosa, California; however, sales of the vehicle and subsequent model, the Z600 coupe, only reached 20,000 units in 1972. During the 1970s energy crisis, however, lightweight, fuel-efficient cars experienced a surge in demand. The Honda Civic, introduced in 1973, became popular in the United States, leading a significant expansion of Honda into the American market.
By 1976, the company had 630 automobile dealers, and Honda followed the Civic with the Accord hatchback, which became the best-selling passenger car in the United States from 1990 to 1992.[3] In 1977, the company partnered with J.D. Power and Associates to conduct a survey of its U.S. dealers and customers concerning their satisfaction with Honda. The initiative led to the creation of the J.D. Power and Associates Customer Satisfaction Index.[14]
Honda has also had several firsts in the area of advanced environmental vehicles. In 1974, the Civic CVCC was introduced as the first car to meet 1970 U.S. Clean Air Act requirements without the need for a catalytic converter and using either regular or unleaded gasoline, and was also rated #1 in fuel economy by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in its first ranking of America''s most fuel-efficient automobiles.[16]
In December 1999, it launched the Honda Insight, America''s first gas-electric hybrid car.[17] It later released the Civic Hybrid, the first application of hybrid technology to an existing, mass-produced automobile; and the Accord Hybrid, the U.S. market''s first V-6 hybrid car.[18] A second-generation Insight hybrid was launched in 2009,[19] followed in 2010 by the CR-Z, a two-passenger car.
American Honda has also been active in the deployment of low-emissions vehicles in the U.S., including the first gasoline-powered vehicles to meet California''s Low-Emission Vehicle (LEV), Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV), and Super Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle (SULEV) exhaust emissions requirements.[20]
As of 2011, Honda is the sole automaker in America marketing a mass-produced natural gas vehicle, the Civic GX, which is produced at its plant in Greensburg, Indiana. The Civic GX was recognized by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) as the "greenest vehicle" in 2010; representing the seventh consecutive year receiving this distinction.[21][22]
Honda offered the first fuel cell electric vehicle to retail customers in the United States, with its first generation FCX vehicle in December 2002. In 2008, Honda introduced an all-new FCX Clarity, a fuel cell sedan, which in 2010 was in the hands of more than two dozen retail customers based on lease sale agreements.[23][24]
In January 2010, the company began operating its third version of a prototype solar-powered hydrogen refueling station for fuel cell electric vehicles on its Torrance, California, campus. The station utilized Honda developed and manufactured thin-film solar cells to provide energy for the reformation of hydrogen from water via electrolysis, producing enough hydrogen to power a fuel cell electric vehicle 10,000 miles per year via a daily, eight-hour overnight fill.[25]
In the 1980s,[2] Honda established its own automobile plants in the U.S., becoming the first Japanese automaker to build cars in the U.S.[3] Honda already had begun producing motorcycles in the U.S., in 1979 in Marysville, Ohio[20] and in 1982, Honda began producing Accord sedans at its first U.S. auto plant, also in Marysville. The 1,000,000-square-foot (93,000 m2) plant cost nearly $300 million to build.[2] As of 2010, the plant measured 3,600,000 square feet (330,000 m2) with cumulative capital investment of $3.8 billion.
During the next 10 years, Honda expanded its auto manufacturing presence, and as of 2010, the company was operating nine U.S. plants in six states. Collectively, these plants produce Honda and Acura automobiles, engines and transmissions, as well as Honda all-terrain vehicles and Honda power equipment products. In 2010, Honda America continued construction on two new factories in North Carolina, one for the production of the HondaJet very light jet, in Greensboro, and a second to produce its GE Honda HF120 turbofan engines, in Burlington.[26][27][28]
Honda established U.S. research and development operations in Southern California in 1975 as Honda Research California, an arm of American Honda Motor, Co., Inc. In 1979, Honda Research of America, Inc. (HRA) was created as a subsidiary of Honda R&D Co., Ltd. As of 2010, the company operates as Honda R&D Americas, Inc. with 14 facilities in North America, including two product research and design studios for Honda and Acura, in Torrance, California, an automobile and motorcycle new-model development center in Raymond, Ohio, and a power equipment research, development and testing center in Swepsonville, North Carolina.[11]
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