The HondaJet, meanwhile, is the latest variation on Honda’s tradition of offering any kind of product with an engine in it. From its roots as a builder of small gasoline engines, Honda has over the years made motorcycles, lawn mowers, cars, trucks, all-terrain vehicles, portable generators and personal watercraft.

Honda has been working on the HondaJet for nine years. Now that it has decided to bring the plane to market, Honda will face mushrooming competition in a fairly new field: the very light jet market, with planes weighing no more than 10,000 pounds that can be flown by one pilot. They generally sell for $1.5 million to $4 million.

At least a dozen manufacturers, including Eclipse, Cessna and Embraer, have announced plans to offer very light jets, which are meant for small business owners who do not need bigger planes or do not want to pay millions of dollars more for larger business jets from Gulfstream, Bombardier or Boeing.

The HondaJet can carry seven people, including the pilot, and cruise at up to 475 miles an hour.

Honda officials estimated that the very light jet market will total about 200 planes a year, and they said they hoped the HondaJet would capture a good share of those sales. They declined to say more specifically how many they hoped to sell, where in the United States the plane would be built, or what it will cost.

Honda did say that it hopes its jet’s unique features will set it apart. For one thing, the engines will be mounted over the wings, not over the tail, as on many private jets. For another, the plane will make extensive use of composite materials instead of aluminum, which will save weight and allow the aircraft to use less fuel.