Honda has never been “just a carmaker.” It entered the U.S. market as a motorcycle company and today its generators, lawnmowers, and powersports equipment cater to Apple-like brand loyalists who’d buy anything Honda offered. A small business jet, though, was not what anyone expected. The project began in the ‘90s and the design was set by 2003, with a composite fuselage and twin engines set atop the wings. It can seat four to six occupants, depending on cabin configuration, plus two crew. The regulatory hoops you have to jump through to put nearly 10,000 pounds of machine 30,000 feet above the populace are far more stringent than even those carmakers are accustomed to dealing with, involving a series of tests and certifications. There were other delays, including the big economic downturn, that contributed to Honda missing its 2010 target delivery date. It broke ground on the new factory in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 2007 but the facility wasn’t complete until 2011. The FAA finally issued the airworthiness certificate that permits delivery to customers on December 8, 2015, after Honda had built at least 20 examples. The HA-420’s two engines (developed with GE) propel it to a 435-mph cruising speed (top speed is 483). With a 43,000-foot operational ceiling, the HondaJet boasts that it is the fastest, highest-flying, quietest, and most fuel-efficient plane in its segment. Like Honda’s lawnmowers, it commands a price premium that’s supposedly offset by lower operating and maintenance costs in the long term. From Popular Mechanics