Mr. Ito was clearly prepared right from the start; he likes technology and believes technical advances can solve many of today's problems. Honda is investing heavily in developing today's four stroke engines to make them leaner, but is also well advanced with hybrid and electric vehicles. Honda will soon launch a newly developed diesel car engine that will have extremely good environmental performance. The company notes that different parts of the world make different choices — Europe is leaning toward fuel-efficient diesel, USA toward hybrids and Asia more toward electric. Honda has products and developments that enable it to be present in every market. There will be a revolution in automotive drivetrain development but this is only a step on the road to the best solution, namely fuel cells and electric drives. There's a long way left to go since the production and distribution of hydrogen must be developed.

The conversation moves to the natural disasters in Japan and how they will affect Honda. The company was forced to halt production and some plants were hit hard, but they began rebuilding immediately. One lesson learned was that Honda, which is not dependent on any one single Tier 1 supplier, was impacted all the same because many of their Tier 1 suppliers were dependent on single Tier 2 suppliers, and this brought Honda to a stop. They will make sure they are not so heavily dependent on Japanese suppliers in the future, but will establish more regional supply chains. Honda will move toward a multiple supplier system from now on.

How sensitive is Honda to the European financial crisis and the problems Japan has with such a strong currency? Mr. Ito replied that he believes so strongly in mankind´s desire for personal mobility that there will be demand for Honda´s products in bad times too. For example, Honda makes 16 million motorcycles, but only 300,000 are made in Japan. Demand for motorcycles will grow in India, Indonesia, Brazil and other countries. Honda has several product legs to stand on, so they are not entirely dependent on just one type of product.

Mr. Ito told us that motorcycle development has been spread across several regions in the world in order to create products that suit the markets concerned. Honda thinks along the same lines when it comes to the development of cars. Honda strives to achieve balance so that each region participates in development work to avoid concentrating everything in Japan.

We got to the subject of Honda's image. Sportiness is an important factor for Honda, and the company races motorcycles, cars, boats and formerly, Formula 1 cars. Mr. Ito told us that Honda will design a new sports car, but that it will not be a copy of a Porsche or a Ferrari. The car will not necessarily need a very large engine as the company will invest in low weight and technology that provides characteristics typical for Honda such as 'fun and environment'. It will have the same basic construction in every market, but with regional modifications. This is Honda's future development concept.

The interview was concluded with an explanation of Honda's views about energy. Mr. Ito is very enthusiastic about this. The company is testing a system called a Home Energy Station that uses natural gas to provide hydrogen for the car and electricity and heat for the home. In Japan Honda has begun selling installations that provide households with heating and electricity from natural gas, and this type of equipment will be introduced in Europe, one condition being a good distribution network for natural gas. In the USA, Honda has been working with Home Power Energy for 12 years, and the company is now investing in developing more efficient solar cells that will produce hydrogen from water. Hydrogen is tomorrow's fuel - super-efficient and the best energy carrier. Winding up, Mr. Ito told us that Honda's hydrogen-fueled FCX Clarity can travel 360 miles on 6 kg of hydrogen.