• by Tanya Gazdik , September 26, 2023

Honda, in partnership with its dealer network, is expanding production of Shogo, an electric ride-on vehicle for young hospital patients.

Shogo soon will begin heading to children’s hospitals nationwide, helping bring more comfort and joy to these patients and their families.

Honda Performance Development  is exclusively manufacturing Shogo and utilizing its race-winning technologies to build 60 Shogo vehicles.

The first two production Honda Shogo vehicles have arrived at Akron Children’s in Akron, Ohio and Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Additional vehicles will be provided to hospitals nationwide starting this fall. 

Shogo, which takes its name from a Japanese phrase and intended to mean “soaring into the future,” is hand assembled by Honda racing engineers at HPD.

The vehicles use the power of play and laughter to help ease the stress and anxiety of hospitalized children and their families, says Hundy Liu, manager of national automobile advertising and Project Courage Lead, American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

“Creating Shogo was a true labor of love for our team of Honda associates and engineers driven by our desire to bring joy and mobility to young patients dealing with a hospital stay,” Liu says in a release.

The original Honda Shogo vehicle has been transporting young patients to and from procedures and appointments at one of Honda's long-term community partners, Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) in California, since December 2021.

Honda initiated “Project Courage” using a version of Shogo designed and built by a small volunteer team of Honda associates. The team conceived the concept with the ultimate aspiration, now realized, to build Shogos to help more children and their families dealing with hospital stays nationwide. 

HPD transformed the original Honda Shogo design into a production-ready vehicle over an 18-month process.

HPD’s engineers added  a racing pedigree to the electric ride-on vehicle with multiple parts and pieces borrowed from Honda’s race-winning machines, from IndyCar steering shaft washers and front knuckle bearings to steering from a Honda-powered Go Kart. 

To bring even bigger smiles to the children, the HPD team also reimagined Shogo’s horn to play a new series of cheerful sounds.