The Honda Motocompo is a folding scooter sold by

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

1981–1983. It was the smallest scooter ever produced by Honda and it folded into a rectangle for easy storage.

History

Released in Shetland White, Daisy Yellow and Caribbean Red variants, the Motocompo was introduced as a "trunk bike" (''trabai'') to fit inside

subcompact car Subcompact car is a North American classification for cars smaller than a compact car. It is broadly equivalent to the B-segment (Europe), supermini (Great Britain) or A0-class (China) classifications. According to the U.S. Environmental Prote ...

s like the

Honda Today The is a kei car produced by Japanese automaker Honda beginning in 1985. It was replaced by the Honda Life in 1998. The Today represented Honda's reentry into kei car production. Honda had abandoned kei passenger cars in 1975, choosing only to ke ...

and the (then new)

Honda City The is a subcompact car which has been produced by the Japanese manufacturer Honda since 1981. The City was originally a 3-door hatchback/2-door convertible for the Japanese, European and Australasian markets. The 3-door City was retired in 199 ...

. The City's baggage compartment was actually developed around the Motocompo. The handlebars, seat, and foot-pegs fold into the scooter's rectangular plastic body to present a clean, box-shaped package of . It is the smallest scooter ever built by Honda. The company's initial monthly sales projection for the domestic market was 8,000 City and 10,000 Motocompo. The City surpassed its targets, but in all only 53,369 Motocompos were sold by the end of production in 1983 (no more than 3,000 per month). The scooter was marketed in conjunction with the City in television ads featuring British ska/2-tone band

Madness Madness or The Madness may refer to: Emotion and mental health * Anger, an intense emotional response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat * Insanity, a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns * ...

Honda City and Motocompo display at Honda Collection Hall in Motegi

Although discontinued in 1983, Honda has revisited the idea since with several concept vehicles such as the 2001 e-Dax and e-NSR, and the 2011 Motor Compo electric scooter. The Motocompo maintains a

cult status A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

among compact bike enthusiasts for its unique design, stylized logo, and highly customizable potential. Bike meet-ups devoted to the Motocompo continue to engage with fans both young and old alike as a passionate community bonded by their enthusiasm for the retro vehicle.

In fiction

The Motocompo is used by

Natsumi Tsujimoto The Japanese manga series '' You're Under Arrest'' features a cast of characters by Kosuke Fujishima. The series centers around two female police officers of contrasting personalities and their activities at Bokuto Station. Main characters Na ...

in '' You're Under Arrest''. It is tucked away at the back of her partner

Miyuki Kobayakawa is a fictional character and protagonist in the '' You're Under Arrest'' franchise. Her voice was provided by Akiko Hiramatsu (Japanese), and Jo Ann Luzzatto (English; OVA) & Juliet Cesario (English; onward). In the live action version, she was p ...

police car when not in use. It was released as a

Bandai is a Japanese multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and Richmond ...

model kit. A Motocompo is the inspiration for the character Sou in the '' Kino's Journey —the Beautiful World—'' anime and manga series.

References

* Infobox specifications from these honda.co.jp pages on 2008-02-19:
Here

External links

at honda.co.jp

at honda.co.jp (archived)

brochure a

Flickr photo results
for 'Honda Motocompo' {{Honda Motocompo Motor scooters Motorcycles introduced in 1981 Two-stroke motorcycles