They got there first: 10 memorable innovations.

Abstract

For 25 years, the automobile industry has cherry-picked ideas from Honda Motor Co.'s North American operations. Honda may have borrowed some of its practices from Japanese competitors before it set up shop in Marysville, Ohio, in 1979. But Honda was the first in a wave of automakers that brought new ways of building cars to these shores. Honda has developed several innovations at its North American manufacturing facilities. The U.S. suppliers fumed in the 1980s when Honda purchasing managers dared to ask them for financial documents, inspect their factories and dictate parts prices. Such demands challenged the traditional relationship between supplier and customer.