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The ME engine was released in June 1977, finally achieving the sales target of a million units annually , five years later, in 1982. This success, which almost everyone had originally thought impossible, was ultimately realized through a strategy of shifting the development focus from engineering to market-driven requirements and establishing a reachable goal. Moreover, it paved the way for Honda's original general purpose engines, which were no longer limited by the context of motorcycle engines. In this sense, the ME engine fulfilled the purpose of helping achieve the goal stated in Honda's Three-Pillar Initiative.
Personnel from Sales and EG were instrumental in the drive to succeed. Particularly, the joint development effort with EG personnel made it possible to put the project in clearer perspective. The ability to discuss issues of mass production and cost reduction helped the team achieve an optimal product balance for the ME engine concept. That kind of thinking eventually grew into the S/E/D system.
The ME engine therefore represented the combined expertise of the Honda organization. It would not be unreasonable to say the engine opened the door to "tomorrow" on behalf of Honda Power Products. By defining a new approach to development focusing on product requirements, the ME engine became the context for leadership in the field of power products.
Hatakeyama discussed the reasons behind the success of his team in ME engine development: "The ME engine would never have materialized if the target had been any less than 1 million units. With that target, we were able to identify various ideals and adopt a new approach. Certainly, it was an outrageous number, and ideas were the only resource we had available to us. Of course, we had a great deal of difficulty reaching this seemingly impossible goal, but we didn't think of the target as a number, but the one million customers we would satisfy. We believed that was necessary in order to reach the goal." |
