HRC boss Koji Watanbe understands it is not likely that racing activities will result in profitability but increasing Honda’s brand value is key.
While it is known that racing activities isn’t directly bringing revenue to any manufacturer, but they still go about it knowing the value it brings to their brand and how they can utilise it for bringing in the income from the sources where they can.
Honda has recently decided to bring all its racing activities under the HRC umbrella and it is in full force with the support from the manufacturer. It is a new corporate organisation with its own set of budget and the F1 activities will come under it.
After the deal with Red Bull ends, they are to supply power units to Aston Martin going forward and HRC chief Watanabe knows the profitability factor but insists on creating brand value. “A new corporate organization has been established to carry out F1 activities, which is very significant,” he said.
“Until now, our activities have been projects, gathering people and money, disbanding when the project was over, and repeating. However, going forward, we (HRC) will be responsible for the racing company’s activities. Being a company, of course, we have a budget that includes expenses for technological development with an eye to the future, such as sustainable carbon-neutral fuels, high-performance motors, batteries, and so on.
“Even in our partnership with the Aston Martin F1 Team, our goal is not only to support the parent company, but also to make HRC as close to independent profitability as possible. This will lead to our continued F1 activities. How much profit will we generate in the future?
“Well, although it would be best to be profitable from our racing activities alone, this reality is not likely. Therefore, we would like to increase HRC’s brand value by achieving solid results in our racing activities first, and then create HRC’s own unique merchandise and services to achieve independent profitability in the future,” summed up HRC boss.