Honda, the Japanese carmaker, said yesterday it will begin selling aircraft for the first time in its history.

Starting this fall, Honda will take orders for a new microjet. Dubbed HondaJet, it becomes the latest entrant in what is expected to be a competitive market for "very light jets," or VLJs.

The very light jets, typically seating eight or fewer passengers, are vying for the most coveted of air travelers — the very wealthy and executives willing and financially able to bypass traditional commercial airlines.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, about 4,500 microjets will be flying by 2016. Eclipse, a business aircraft manufacturer, is on track to be the first company to have its microjet certified for flight, perhaps later this year. Honda projects it will be three to four years before the FAA certifies its jet and it can begin flying.

The company plans to make the planes in the United States, though it declined to say where the manufacturing plant will be. It also declined to specify pricing.

"Aviation has been an important dream of Honda for more than four decades," said Satoshi Toshida, senior managing director of Honda Motor, who announced the jet plans in Oshkosh, Wis., at an aviation show sponsored by the Experimental Aircraft Association.

Honda plans to form an alliance with Vero Beach, Fla.-based Piper Aircraft to collaborate on sales and service and to explore opportunities in engineering and other areas in general and business aviation.

Honda has dabbled in aviation before, manufacturing a HondaJet prototype and introducing it at the EAA air show last year.

Since HondaJet's introduction, industry watchers have been wondering if the consumer-focused company would find the VLJ market attractive and big enough for its taste, said John Walsh of consulting firm Walsh Aviation.

"I think it'll have limited impact in that market segment," he said. "It's a brand new territory for Honda. If you're good at it, (you're) selling maybe hundreds a year. It's very different (from) the consumer market."

With established competitors such as Eclipse and Cessna much closer to getting their microjets certified, Honda has a lot of catching up to do.

Michimasa Fujino, Honda's research and development vice president for North America who spearheaded the project, acknowledged that the market is "very competitive," but said the new jet will uphold Honda's tradition by promising "outstanding quality" and greater fuel efficiency.

Walsh said HondaJet's new technologies are "high-end," but customers might not be willing to pay extra for them. Eclipse 500 has a sticker price of $1.3 million, and HondaJet will likely be more expensive, he said.