Born on November 17, 1906, the eldest son of the blacksmith Honda Gihei in Komyo, Iwata District, Shizuoka (today Tenryu Ward, Hamamatsu). After graduating from Futamata Ordinary Higher Elementary School, in 1922 he went as an apprentice to the auto repair company 'Art Shokai' in Tokyo. In 1928, at 22, he opened an Art Shokai Hamamatsu branch in his hometown and became independent. In 1937 he founded Tokai Seiki Heavy Industries and succeeded in making piston rings. After the war, in October 1946, he founded the Honda Technical Research Institute in Hamamatsu and manufactured auxiliary bicycle engines ('bata-bata'). In September 1948 he founded Honda Motor Co., Ltd. In 1949 he had a fateful meeting with Fujisawa Takeo, with Honda in charge of technology and Fujisawa of management in a complete division of roles, and they grew rapidly in the motorcycle market in the 1950s. The 'Super Cub' was released in 1958 and became a huge hit, with worldwide cumulative sales exceeding 100 million. In 1961 Honda took first place among Japanese makers at the Isle of Man TT; in 1964 it entered Formula 1, and in 1965 won first at the Mexican GP. In 1963 it entered the four-wheel business with the 'S500' sports car. In 1972 it developed the world's first low-pollution CVCC engine, the first in the world to clear the U.S. Muskie Act regulations. In 1973, at 66, he retired as president together with Fujisawa, making way for successors without hereditary succession. In 1989 he became the first Japanese inducted into the U.S. Automotive Hall of Fame. He died in Tokyo on August 5, 1991, at 84.

An engineer to the core, an inventor-maniac and mass of passion. 'Show me you can do it' and 'Fail!' were his pet phrases, and he himself faced machines smeared with oil on the factory floor. He had a rough temper and would sometimes hit employees, but he also had a frankness that apologized the next day. With little interest in management or finance, he left it all to Fujisawa Takeo. Hating ceremony and rank, he went thoroughly by ability rather than title, and as an engineer dealt with the Emperor and prime ministers without nervousness. He continued to speak of 'love, dreams, and passion' as the DNA of Honda.

Honda continues to grow as a company that keeps taking on world-firsts and Japan-firsts — Japan's first U.S. local production (Ohio plant, 1982), the world's first mass-produced hybrid car (Insight, 1999), the development of Asimo and other robots, and the HondaJet released in 2015 — embodying Honda Soichiro's DNA. His management philosophy of 'respect for the individual' and the 'three joys' (joy of buying, joy of selling, joy of creating) is still at the core of Honda's philosophy. After his death, in 1993 he was inducted into the U.S. Automotive Hall of Fame — the only Japanese at the time — establishing worldwide recognition. The Honda Soichiro Manufacturing Heritage Hall in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, is open for visits. The simultaneous retirement with Fujisawa Takeo is studied in management science as a model of protecting 'corporate culture' from cult of personality.