Honda Motor Company, Limited is a multinational corporation, engine manufacturer and engineering corporation headquartered in Japan.

To start with, Honda was a racing company. Honda Racing Corporation was formed in 1982. The company combined participation in motorcycle races throughout the world with the development of high potential racing machines.

In 1964, Honda entered Formula One as a constructor at the German Grand Prix.

At present, the company manufactures automobiles and motorcycles, trucks, scooters, robots, jets and jet engines, ATV, water craft, electrical generators, marine engines, lawn and garden equipment, and aeronautical and other mobile technologies.

The company has recently ventured into mountain bikes as well.

Honda is the fifth largest automobile manufacturer in the world and the second largest in Japan behind Toyota and ahead of Nissan.

Toyota: Headquartered in Aichi, Nagoya and in Tokyo, the company manufactures automobiles as well as robots.

Toyota Motor Co. was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937 and vehicles were originally sold under the name 'Toyoda'.

The company name was later changed to simplify the pronunciation.

Toyota provides financial services through its division Toyota Financial Services. Toyota Industries and Finance divisions form the bulk of the Toyota Group, one of the largest conglomerates in the world.

Image: Models pose next to Toyota Motor's new hybrid sedan Lexus LS600hL during its launch in Seoul. | Photograph: Kim Jae-Myoung/AFP/Getty Images