I have this question because I am trying to settle something with some friends. I remember watching and reading about how Mugen was a small race oriented division of Honda, founded by the son or grandson of the founder of Honda. Thus, having a joint type program and being able to create racing parts for Hondas. I also remember seeing limited production vehicles like the Mugen NSX that was offered by Honda for Japan only a long time ago. If anyone has any info about this I would be appreciative.

By bad for spelling it wrong


[Modified by BrabusCClass, 7:05 PM 6/6/2002]

 

spell it Mugen,

It was started by the son.

Not sure I would call it a division of Honda. More like a very close seperate company. But I could be wrong.

 

It's Mugen

 

not a division. nothing like TRD & Toyota.

Ryan

 

started by Mr. Honda's son.........I can't believe you spelled mugen wrong

 

It's a separate company.

 

It used to be but after Daddy died, Sorchiro Honda (Founder), the son who own Mugen, just 2ys ago got booted out his 40% share in Honda Corp after now runs by many CEOs
Mugen does have some support from Honda but on papers, they are just like any
aftermarket tuning company now. I remembered watch one F-1 race 2 yrs and
the commentator announce the Honda's 40% buy out from Mugen which makes Mugen have no relationship with Honda anymore and makes them just like SKUNKWORKS????
The Honda Spirits is gone! Look how bad they doing in F-1 now

 

MUGEN is not part of Honda I believe.

 

m00gin

 

If I remember correctly....

Mugen was a seperate company when it was started...
then it was a subsidiary of Honda...
now it's a seperate company again...

hope that this helps...

Austin...

 

They are a separate company but they work very closley on all the cars. Mugen Quality is comparable to Factory race. Even above in some cases...

 

no wonder honda is going downhill..telling you..like i've said..its lossing that racing spirit..there building there cars now to just please the american market

 

Thanks for all the input. My friend told me to ask here in the TypeR forum cuz you guys would know. And he was right.

 

<------- Not to nit-pick, but his name was Soichiro Honda.

 

If Mugen is not apart of Honda, then is Comptech?

 

Nope, neither is Spoon, Jun, Toda, VeilSide, FMax, Top Fuel... None of them are a part of Honda.

 

no, comptech is a seperate company as well.

Mugen is kind of like AMG was before Mercedes actually bought them, to make them more like the M division of BMW.

 

If Honda was smart they wuld have let the 40% ownership stay since by having 40% and 100% of 2 different yet simialr comapnies they would get the best results. Guess the CEOs wanted 100%... Bad move IMO. And they forced the kid out the dor? Ohh man are they going to get theirs...

 

mugen used to be, but no more.

 

The Mugen image
Since its establishment in 1973, Mugen has nourished intimate relations with Honda. Because it forms the nucleus of Honda’s car racing efforts many motorsports fans think Mugen is a Honda affiliate. Another factor in the confusion is that founder and President Hirotoshi Honda is the son of the late Soichiro Honda, founder of the Honda Motor Company. But Mugen is an independent firm and does not depend fully on Honda. There is currently no capital relationship between the two, and Mugen's racing engines and racing carts are sold under the Mugen brand. The reason Mugen is only bases its vehicle development and racing activities on Honda cars in a category in which participants compete in remodeling such market products as touring cars and GTs is "a result of a consideration of the best advantages in terms of business." Thus, the “wet” factor - a relationship of mutual trust and an accumulation of technology cultivated through many years of cooperation - has acted heavily on the “dry” judgment criteria - racing results. We could say that Mugen is an engine constructor and a racing team that specializes in Honda.

A history forged on the circuit
As many people have heard, Soichiro Honda did not want any blood relations working at Honda. Mugen President Hirotoshi Honda adds, "I had no desire to work at Honda. I was not interesting in working at a big company, and I don’t like to be tied down, so Honda was not for me.” At college Hirotoshi studied industrial design and headed quite naturally towards becoming a car designer, but surprisingly enough his second aspiration was to become a movie director. After graduating, he built racing cars at home. Eventually he started producing custom cars along with some friends, and this developed into his current business.

Mugen's first business venture was the development, manufacturing and sales of a racing engine based on the power unit of the Honda Civic. This engine, designed for the FJ1300 category, marked a brilliant start when it won the first race in the 1974 season. The engines Mugen has supplied since this time have achieved victories in virtually all the categories in which they have participated. In 1985 Mugen began developing F1 engines in cooperation with Honda. Beginning this year, however, the Mugen F1 engine is completely different from the Honda unit.

Mugen began selling after-market parts for use on public roads in 1975. Virtually all these parts have been for Honda cars. The Mugen brand offers every type of part related to customizing, including engine tuning parts, such functional parts as suspensions and brakes, and accessories for dressing up cars. Explains Hirotoshi Honda, Back then there were no other companies that sold all these parts, so we had to manufacture them all. In the past most parts manufacturers in Japan worked as subcontractors for car manufacturers and did not target consumers with their own products. This is because motorsports was considered a competition between manufacturers and the customizing hobby was not common among general users. Some of Mugen’s products were manufactured with the cooperation of outside companies offering high levels of skill.

Designs expressing function
None of Mugen’s dress-up parts or [aero] parts have flashy designs. The reason is that Mugen aims at forms that respect the base car’s design and enhance its attraction. Says Marketing dept. Manager Takasi Uno, who himself is involved in product design, “If products are to carry the Mugen name, they must first of all offer both function and styling”. And speaking about design, Hirotoshi Honda says, “My only fun is to give my two cents as a designer.” Admits Uno, “If the President didn’t offer his opinions about design, Mugen’s products might all have been designed with less rigor and with compromises made at a low level.” He says that Mugen’s product development process is so laborious and time-consuming that uninformed outsiders might wonder how the company could turn a profit. The design staff works in the design room along with the engineers.

In developing the aero parts for such sports type cars as the NSX and S2000, Mugen actually conducts testing in the wind tunnel and takes rigorous measurements to determine the designs of the various parts - the length and angle of the spoilers, the size and shape of the air intakes, etc. Explains Uno, “If you only consider aerodynamic performance, the resulting form is not nice. You have to balance it cleverly with styling. Products must have meaningful designs.”

The many victories Mugen has accomplished on the circuit have been directly involved in developing the Mugen brand image. Once it has an established brand image, a company does not have to worry too much about market trends. Analyzing the customizing market, Uno says, “We do not want to be part of the fashionable crowd. We prefer to be on the edge.”

The future of Mugen
As objectives for the future, Hirotoshi Honda gives the examples of Cosworth and AMG. In other words, to support the motorsports industry steadily and to sell a complete car under its own brand to general consumers from a stance different of that of a large automobile manufacturer. “In the past my dream was to build an original sports car. I haven’t thrown that dream out - I still hope to achieve it some day,” says Honda. But he complains that there are too many meaningless restrictions in Japan today. “Many of today’s laws were established with the aim of facilitating bureaucracy. That is why I think young people especially should speak out against them.” He continues with a suggestion for manufacturers. “Today consumers have more flexible values and can accept a wider variety of products than designers at manufacturers. As long as cars have a firm basic structure, it should be possible to reflect the personal tastes of users in their stylings.”

Mugen aims at the spread of a “type of motorsports that not only hardcore enthusiasts but the regular person as well can enjoy”. For this reason it has set up cart courses around Japan to offer the opportunity for people to experience a circuit easily. The company hopes that the development of the motorsports industry in Japan will also lead to stronger business in the future. Says Honda, “A truly rich society is one in which small-scale, personal manufacturers can do business.” In the U.S. and Europe, specialized manufacturers offer all types of automobile parts - mufflers, pistons, brakes - under their own brands. The gap between the U.S. and Europe on one side and Japan on the other is still too big.

Mugen products incorporate the company’s technical abilities to win F1 races. The company will always have the blood of the circuit flowing in its veins. And its brand strategy invested with the charisma of racing victories will no doubt further improve the company’s reputation.

commentary by Hayato Furusho
CARSTYLING, Issue 136, May 2000

 

Wow nice Ausmith. Thank you for all that info.

 

Hey! Our very own Honda-Tech Member 'Cosworth' is mentioned in that article!