Honda Philippines, Inc. (HPI) celebrates 50 years of providing high-quality, innovative, and reliable motorcycles to bring the joy of mobility and comfort to the Filipino motorcyclist.

To kick off the anniversary celebration, HPI introduced its newly-appointed first female president, Sayaka Arai, to guests and stakeholders at an event in HPI Plant in Tanauan City, Batangas. Arai also led the production line roll-off ceremony of HPI’s commemorative special models.

“As we celebrate this milestone, we remain committed to realizing Honda’s global vision to serve people worldwide with the joy of expanding their life’s potential. This achievement is a testament to HPI’s goal of ensuring continuous response to customers’ ever-changing mobility needs,” said Arai.

All business from the start…well, mostly

Established as Mariwasa-Honda in 1973 in the Philippines, the company started producing motorbikes with an annual production of 4,700 units. 1976 the company created the TM110 model for the tricycle market, followed by the Honda C70 underbone motorcycle and XL125 in 1977.

HPI then released the powerful TM125 in 1979, the TM110S model in 1980, and the first TMX155 for heavy-duty tricycle use in 1981, pioneering the four-stroke air-cooled engine in the country.

Taking the reins

In 1983, Honda Motor Co. Ltd took majority ownership of the company, and this gave birth to Honda Philippines, Inc. The company then launched the XL125SR model to the Philippine market. From there, HPI continued bringing new motorcycles to provide mobility and comfort to Filipinos. Among the products introduced were the C70DD Econo power in 1984 and the trendy PF50 in 1989.

Honda then unveiled the C100 Dream model in 1996, which was well-appreciated by many Filipino motorists, including the Wave110 motorcycle in 2000. In 2002, the company released the ANF125, NF100, and XRM Dual Sports, a uniquely designed model for Filipino customers that led HPI to the No. 1 position in the motorcycle industry.

In 2003, the company celebrated its 30th anniversary, and to mark its three decades of progressive partnership with the Filipino people, HPI launched the TMX125 and the limited edition XRM110. This was followed by the Wave 125S, XRM110, and XR200 in 2004.

Driving the Philippine motorcycle industry boom

In February 2005, HPI produced its one millionth motorcycle units and held a groundbreaking ceremony in its new Batangas plant, a factory that would become the country’s largest motorcycle manufacturing plant. A year later, HPI made the big move from Parañaque to the new and more advanced manufacturing facility in Batangas. In 2007, the XRM125 was introduced.

By 2008, the company had produced a total of 2 million motorcycles and successfully released the XRM RS125 model. This was followed by Honda BeAT and Wave Dash 110 in 2009 and the CB110 in 2010.

In 2011, the company unveiled the CBR150R and Scoopy models and achieved an accumulated production of 3 million motorcycles. HPI then introduced the TMX Supremo business model the following year.

To mark its 40th anniversary in 2013, the company achieved a total production of 4 million units, later growing to 5 million in 2016.

Changing the game

The popular Click125i and Click150i models were launched in 2018, in which HPI attained the No. 1 market share in AT segment in the Philippines and later succeeded by the Genio, ADV150, and  Supra GTR150 in 2019. That same year, HPI attained an overall production of 6 million motorcycle units.

In 2020, the company had its first successful localized automatic (AT) production of the Honda BeAT, allowing for the release of the new version of the motorcycle together with the AirBlade150.

Whew! That was fun! How about some personal history? I started riding during the C100 Dream era; how about you?