The Civic Effect: Expanding A Market Through Innovation

That’s the lesson Honda taught the automotive industry in the early 1970s with the Honda Civic, a car that didn’t just earn acclaim and sales but redefined the sub-compact car market and became a perennial bestseller. It’s a lesson the car business never forgot.And it’s a lesson Honda never lost sight of, either. The development of the HondaJet isn’t simply a matter of a carmaker learning to fly.

Fujino, who moved to the United States in 1986 as part of Honda’s then-secret aviation R&D program, understood the Civic’s legacy even then. By the mid-1980s the car was a steady sales performer and a household name, with nearly 170,000 Civics. It even gained a position in prominent automobile museum collections including the Smithsonian Institute. “The Civic was an icon that changed American auto culture,” Fujino says.

So the budding aircraft business needed a design that wouldn’t simply make headlines and sell product but that had the potential to succeed over multiple generations. “Honda is always looking to drive a long-term vision,” Fujino says.The Civic disrupted the car market with a combination of performance, comfort and price that other automakers weren’t matching. The Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion engine that powered early Civics was a significant part of that equation.

The HondaJet Elite’s innovations, including its signature wing-mounted engines, has redefined the light jet category.Fujino has gone on the record saying he considers aviation just as important as Honda’s traditional business, and that his vision goes beyond just putting hundreds of HondaJets in the sky. “My goal is to create a fourth pillar for Honda Motor,” he says, speaking of aviation sitting alongside the company’s ubiquitous standing in automotive, motorcycle and power products.

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