You would have to have been living under a very big rock for the past 50 years to not be aware of the Honda brand. Honda Motors rose from the ashes of post war Japan to become one of the most recognizable brands in the world and one of the world’s largest multinational conglomerates.
Honda got into the lawn mower business in the late 70s, but not in the way many of their competitors did. Rather than simply buying an existing brand, the company developed their own line of mowers from scratch. The first of these hit the market in 1978. Today, Honda produces dozens of gas, electric and robotic mowers that are renowned for their quality and durability. In our Honda lawn mower reviews we’ll take a close look at those mowers and see if they live up to their reputation.
Our Honda Lawn Mower Reviews
History of Honda Lawn Mowers
The Honda brand is universally known today. But that wasn’t always the case. It took the company’s founder, Soichiro Honda, more than a decade starting in the years prior to World War II to gain a foothold in the Japanese automotive industry. For a time he even owned a shop that made parts for the company that would one day become his biggest rival, Toyota. Toyota would eventually take a stake in that shop, and then buy it outright following the war.
Soichiro Honda used the money from that sale to found another company, this time to produce makeshift motorized bicycles. He wound up liquidating that company in 1949 and used the proceeds to found Honda Motors. After a less than auspicious start the company finally took off, and by 1964 Honda Motors was the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles. At around the same time they produced their first automobiles and today, they are the 8th largest auto manufacturer in the world.
During the 1970s the company moved into the consumer products space and in 1978 they released their first lawnmower, the HR21, to the market. Today, they are a worldwide leader in lawn mower sales and production, churning out 500,000 mowers every year.
As you’ll see in our Honda lawn mower reviews, Honda mowers today run the gamut from reel mowers, to gas-powered push and self-propelled mowers, to a variety of cordless and corded electric mowers, gas-powered lawn tractors and even robotic mowers. You can buy Honda lawn mowers from The Home Depot, Honda dealerships, an array of independent dealers and online through multiple retail outlets, including the Honda website.
Where are Honda Lawn Mowers Made?
Honda has earned the praise and respect of a multitude of Americans for their choice to locate their lawnmower production facilities in the US. At a time (the 1980s) when many American manufacturers were starting to pull up stakes and move production to China and other countries, Honda chose a counterintuitive approach.
The company felt it could curry favor with the US consumer by employing thousands of Americans to build lawn mowers for the American market in brand new factories in the US. The gamble wound up reaping generous rewards as US homeowners repaid Honda’s investment in the American labor market with robust sales that continue to this day.