| PIAA Corporation | |
| Native Name: | PIAA株式会社 |
| Native Name Lang: | ja |
| Romanized Name: | PIAA kabushiki gaisha |
| Trade Name: | PIAA |
| Type: | Kabushiki gaisha |
| Industry: | Automotive |
| Hq Location City: | Suidō, Bunkyō, Tokyo |
| Hq Location Country: | Japan |
| Key People: | Hiroyasu Terada (President) |
| Revenue: | 475 million |
| Revenue Year: | 2019 |
| Net Income: | 157.02 million[1] |
| Net Income Year: | 2019 |
| Assets: | 5,755,357,000 |
| Assets Year: | 2019 |
| Num Employees: | 166 |
| Divisions: | PIAA USA |
| Parent: | Ichikoh |
PIAA Corporation is an automobile parts and supplies manufacturer headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. It is a consolidated subsidiary of Ichikoh, which in turn is a subsidiary of Valeo.
Despite the capitalization of its name implying that it is an acronym, it was stated in 2015[2] and 2019[3] to actually be onomatopoeia.
Current Product Lines
PIAA is active in supporting motorsports. It started by supplying lamps to rally teams in 1982. After that, its customer base gradually expanded, and currently, in addition to racing cars such as rally and touring cars (such as in the Nürburgring 24 Hours, Spa 24 Hours, and Fuji 24 Hours), the company also supplies racing motorcycles (such as in the Suzuka 8 Hours and FIM Endurance World Championship).[4] Due to the high quality of its products, many teams use not only its lamps but also its water-repellent wipers, aluminum wheels, etc. for both cars and motorcycles in Japan and overseas.PIAA was the title sponsor in Formula One of the Tyrrell Racing Organisation's entrants for the 1997 and 1998 seasons. The PIAA sponsorship livery was displayed on the Tyrrell 025 driven by Mika Salo and Jos Verstappen, and on the Tyrrell 026 driven by Ricardo Rosset and Toranosuke Takagi.[5] [6] This helped increase international awareness of the PIAA brand. PIAA had earlier been a minor sponsor of the Tyrrell team during the 1990 and 1991 seasons on the Tyrrell 019 and 020, respectively.
Support for former racing driver Satoru Nakajima has been deeply connected since 1986. At the 1991 Japanese Grand Prix, which was Nakajima's last race at Suzuka, the Hinomaru support flag of "Thank you Satoru Nakajima" was developed. Even after he retired from active racing, PIAA continued to sponsor his Nakajima Racing team. It withdrew from sponsorship in 2009, but resumed support in 2012.
In the WRC, Toyota, Hyundai, and Citroën are supplied with PIAA lamps (and, for the former, water-repellent wipers).