Daiso puts its logo on an F1 car through a new partnership with Honda Racing

Daiso Industries Co., Ltd. and Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) have signed a business partnership built around Formula One, the two companies said in a joint release dated October 16. Under the deal, tied to the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship, Daiso's brand logo is set to appear on the F1 car "AMR26," which carries a Honda power unit, at three races: the Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Las Vegas Grands Prix, with the branded livery due to be unveiled at the Mexico City race. Honda is the technical partner of the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team, according to the team's own website, which fields the AMR26.

The two companies said they would also plan and roll out promotions timed to each Grand Prix weekend, using the F1 car's imagery and the HRC logo. Daiso framed the tie-up as a way to use Formula One's global reach to create new points of contact with customers and value it has not offered before, as it continues to run store networks both in Japan and overseas, according to the release. HRC said the collaboration with a company expanding its business globally would help bring the technology and brand built through its motorsport activity to more customers, making F1 feel more familiar in daily life and broadening its reach to new fans.

For a 100-yen-store chain built on uniform low pricing, a Formula One sponsorship sits well outside the retail floor: it buys global broadcast and trackside visibility rather than foot traffic, the kind of brand marketing used by consumer names trying to build awareness in markets where they may not yet have a single store. The agreement was signed by Daiso's Hiroshima-based head office and Honda's Saitama-based racing subsidiary, which makes it a Japan-led push to raise the brand's international profile.

Whether three races' worth of logo space moves the needle on store traffic anywhere is not something this announcement settles -- that will depend on whether Daiso returns with a fuller campaign once the Mexico City livery reveal shows what the branding actually looks like on track.