Back to the future-the Honda way

In a far-ranging discussion, the company's President of R&D opens the curtains a little on the inner workings of research and development from the CVCC engine to the new two-motor hybrid system.

Yoshiharu Yamamoto, President of Honda Research and Development Co. since April 2011 and an executive officer and director of parent Honda Motor Co., of late might be better known among the Honda staff as ‘Rice Man’ because of his tenure as the leader of Honda R&D's bio-agricultural research and experimental program. However, when the chemistry graduate joined Honda R&D in 1973, he found himself promptly assigned to the newly formed Yagi advanced research laboratory led by Shizuo Yagi, the legendary engine designer and father of the CVCC (compound vortex controlled combustion).

“I love cars and motorcycles, but had no pretense of being knowledgeable let alone an expert in the intricacies of internal combustion,” said Yamamoto. “But then the lab was an assortment of engineers of different specialties working toward the common goal of making superior engines.”