A History of Car Logos

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The Abarth shield shape
represents the concept of
victory; the red white and
green bars were added in
recent times to symbolize
the Italian origin of these
cars. The history of the
scorpion in the logo is
uncertain but believed to
come from the zodiac sign
of the founder, Mr. Carlo
Abarth.
The Alfa Romeo logo
represents the coat of arms
of the city of Milan and are
related to the crusades,
hence the cross. On the
right, a snake is eating a
figure, either a child or a
Saracen (depends on who
you ask).
There have been a number
of Aston Martin logos
since the company started
up in 1916. The first from
1920 was an amalgamation
of the letters A and M. The
next was inroduced in
1932 and the two wings
were borrowed from the
Bentley Logo signifying
speed. The third was an
evolution of the last and
the design was gradually
improved to keep up with
modern tastes. It was
modernised again to
include the name "David
Brown" in 1947 when he
took over the company,
lending his initials to
several landmark vehicles
in the AM range.
The four rings in the Audi
logo represent the four
companies of the Auto-
Union consortium of 1932
- DKW, Horch, Wanderer,
and Audi. The Audi name
(latin for "Hear!")
disappeared after WWII,
but was revived in1965.
People have mistakenly
believed that the BMW
logo is a rounded, stylized
representation of a
spinning propeller blade
(the company build
military airplane enginges
originally). However, it
actually predates airplane
engine production by more
than ten years. The
emblem evolved from the
Rapp Moternwerke
company logo (which later
grew into BMW), with
colors from the flag of
Bavaria incorporated.
Buick's logo originated
from the coat of arms of
the Buick family (of
Scottish origin); a red
shield with a checkered
silver and azure diagonal
line running from the
upper left corner of the
shield and a gold cross in
the lower left corner (the
cross had a hole in the
center with the red of the
shield showing through),
and in the upper right
corner was an antlered
deer head with a jagged
neckline. The logo
underwent many revisions,
then in 1960 the logo was
changed to three shields, to
represent the three Buick
models in production at the
time (LeSabre, Invicta, and
Electra).
The original Cadillac logo
is based on the family crest
of the man for whom the
company was named,
Antoine de La Mothe,
Sieyr de Cadillac (though
many believe the crest is a
fake, concocted for the
purposes of the company's
logo). The symbolism of
the wreath surrounding the
crest is uncertain (though
the original wreath design
was a bouquet of tulipped
leaves).
Popular legend has it that
the Chevrolet logo was
inspired by wallpaper in a
French hotel where
William C. Durant was
staying (the legend says he
saw the pattern marching
off into infinity as a design
on the wallpaper and tore a
piece of it off to keep to
show to friends and later
turn into the company
logo). However, his wife
says that the bowtie
emblem was first seen by
her husband in a Virginia
newspaper on a vacation
around 1912, upon which
he told her that the thought
it'd be a very good emblem
for the Chevrolet (per
Chevrolet Pro
Management Magazine,
October 1986).
The Chrysler logo has
undergone quite a few
changes over the years; the
one shown here is an
adaptation of the original
medallion logo used on
Chrysler cars at its
inception in 1925. This
logo was brought back to
use in 1994, and the pair of
silver wings were added
after the company merged
with Daimler-Benz in
1998. Now that Chrysler's
been sold to Cerberus,
they're switching back to
the Pentastar design,
though the cars are still
using the logo shown here.
The Citroen car company
was founded by Andre
Citroen, who got started in
the industry by building
gear wheels. The two
chevrons of their logo is
meant to represent gear
teeth.
The Cizeta logo portrays a
wolf's head, representing
the Tiberian she-wolf that
fed Romulus and Remus,
the orphaned children of
Mars who founded Rome.
The blue and yellow colors
are the colors of Modena,
Italy (where the company
was founded, though it's
since moved to California).
The word 'Cizeta' is the
founders's initials, when
spoken in Italian (his name
was Claudio Zampolli).
The modern Corvette logo
is a variation of that
designed by Robert
Bartholomew (an interior
designer at Chevrolet) in
1953. It features two flags,
one a checkered flag and
the other one featuring to
icons, a Chevrolet bowtie
logo and a fleur-de-lis. The
fleur-de-lis was chosen
since Chevrolet was a
French name, and a fleur-
de-lis is a French symbol
meaning peace and purity.
The origin of the Daewoo
logo is uncertain, though
our research indicates the
three branches may be
reprsentative of an image
the company was striving
for - growth as an
automaker, stability in all
the operations, and trust
between company and
customers. If you know
more, please email us!
The Dodge Ram logo first
appeared as a hood
ornament in the 1930s,
used on both trucks and
cars. The Ram was chosen
for the image it portrays -
sure-footed, King of the
Trail.
The prancing horse
featured on the Ferrari
logo was the emblem of
Italian WWI flying ace
Fancesco Baracca, whose
parents persuaded Enzo
Ferrari to use the symbol
of their late son for his
Alfa Romeo race cars.
When Ferrari later started
his own car company, he
continued use of this logo.
Note that the logo shown
here is technically the logo
of the racing team,
Scuderia Ferrari, though
you will see it appear on
the front fenders of many
modern road-going
Ferraris. The official
company logo is the
rectangular version
encompasing the same
prancing horse.
In 1982, the Uno was the
first Fiat to wear the new
five-bar logo. Legend has
it that Fiat design lead
Mario Maioli was driving
past the factory at night
during a power outage, and
saw the giant Fiat logo
against the fading sky. He
sketched what he saw; the
spaces between the letters
represents the light he
could see between the
letters of the sign.
Henry Ford's right-hand-
man, Harold Wills, printed
business cars to earn
money as a teen, and when
Mr. Ford needed a logo,
Wills pulled out his old
printing set and used a font
that he had used for his
own cards. The oval was
added in 1912, and blue
was added for the Model A
in 1927.
The Infiniti logo is derived
from the symbol for
infinity, not surprisingly.
The concept of the open
road and traveling toward
infinity was one the
company wanted the
customer to feel. The logo
also suggest Mt. Fuji.
Although, some readers
here have suggested that it
represents a pizza with one
slice eaten!
Originally the Swallow
Sidecar Company, Jaguar
gained its new name in
1945, though why this
particular animal was
chosen is uncertain
(though it makes a much
better hood ornament than
a swallow...). It's thought
the leaping jaguar is meant
to represent the speed,
power, and quickness of
the cars.
The phantom insignia on
the Koenigsegg logo is a
tribute to the Swedish air
force squadron that
operates out of the airbase
where Koenigsegg's
factory is also located
(they use the ghost as their
emblem).
The founder of
Lamborghini, Ferrucio
Lamborghini, had a
passion of bull fighting, as
evidenced by the logo
chosen for his car
company - a charging bull.
Mr. Lamborghini also
carried this theme over to
the names of his cars,
almost all of which were
named after eithera breed
of fighting bull or a
paritcular bull.
The origin of the Lancia
logo comes from its name,
which means 'lance' in
Italian (the founder was
Vincenzo Lancia). An
earlier version of this logo
can be found here.
The letters at the top of the
Lotus logo are the initials
of Lotus' founder, Anthony
Colin Bruce Chapman. It's
unknown why he chose the
name 'Lotus' for his car
company. The green
background is British
Racing Green, the color of
British cars in his day. The
yellow background
symbolizes the sunny days
Mr. Chapman hoped lay
ahead for his company.
The trident prominent in
the Maserati logo is the
traditional symbol for
Bologna, where the cars
were originally made
(they're now built in
nearby Modena).
Rei Yoshimara, a world-
renowned corporate
image-creator, designed
the Mazda logo. The 'V'
represents wings
outstretched.
The three pointed star of
Mercedes' logo represents
their domination of land,
sea, and air. First used on a
Daimler in 1909, a laurel
wreath was added in 1926
to signify the union with
Benz, and was later
simplified to the current
logo design in 1937.
The Mitsubishi logo is an
integration of two family
logos, and originally
represented three water
chestnuts. It's derived from
the three-layer chestnut
family crest of Yataro
Iwasaki, founder of
Tsukumo Shokai, and the
three-leaved oak family
crest of the Yamanouchi
family, from the Tosa
Clan. As for the name, it
literally means 'three water
chestnuts' - Mitsu means
three, and Hishi is the
word for water chestnut
(when there's an 'h' in the
middle of a Japanese word,
it's often pronounced as a
'b'). You can read the
official Mitsubishi
explation here.
The origin of the Morgan
Motor Company's logo is
uncertain, though the
wings may be inspired by
a flying ace of the First
World War, Captain Ball,
who said that to drive a
Morgan three-wheeler as
the nearest thing to flying
on the ground. If you know
more about this log, please
email us!
Interesting, the modern
day Opel logo originally
featured a slylized
dirigible airship inside the
'O', representing German
engineering expertise (this
was from 1937 to 1947). It
since evolved, into a
stlized airplane from 1954
to 1964, and then to
today's lightning bolt in
1964.

The origin of the Pagani

logo is uncertain; if you
know anything about this
please email us.

The Panoz logo was

designed by company
founder Daniel Panoz. The
red, white, and blue colors
represent the fact that
Panoz is an American
company, while the swirls
are a tribute to the
integration of balance and
symmetry represented by
the Yin-Yang symbol. The
shamrock in the middle
reflects the company's, and
the founder's, Irish roots.
One of the earliest Puegeot
models was built in the
city of Belfort, whose
emblem was the lion. The
car was thus known as a
Lion-Peugeot, and adopted
the Belfort city emblem.
The Pontiac logo
represents an arrowhead.
This logo was introduced
in 1958, replacing the
Indian Chief head
silhouette emblem used
since 1928.
The Porsche badge is the
coat of arms of the city of
Stuttgart (where the cars
are built). The city was
built on the site of a stud
farm, which explains the
horse in the coat of arms;
the antlers and red and
black stripes are part of the
arms of the Kingdom of
Wurttemberg.
The Renault diamond logo
was first used in 1924 (it
was previously circular),
and had a very functional
purpose originally - the
center of the badge was cut
out to allow sound from
the horn, positioned
directly behind, to escape.
The Rover logo represents
a Viking ship, a link
between the meaning of
'Rover' (to wander about)
and the Vikings, which did
very much the same thing
albeit via the oceans rather
than land.
The Saab logo shown here,
introduced in 2000, is an
evolution of the design
introduced in 1987 (the
company used only a text
logo until then). Designed
by artist Carl Fredik
Reutersward, the original
logo depicted a
mythological beast Gripen
(a griffen). The Gripen
head is derived from the
coat of arms of Count von
Skane, which was used as
the symbol for the Swedish
province of Skane, where
Saab was formed.
The history of the Scion
logo is uncertain, though
there's an apparent 'S'
cutting verticall through
the center of the logo.

The history of the Seat

logo is uncertain, though
it's obviously meant to
represent an 'S'.

The Skoda logo is a

winged arrow, but has no
apparent significance
(other than to give the
impression of speed).
Apart from the Smart
name (all lowercase), the
Smart logo features a 'C'
for 'Compact', and an
arrow for 'forward
thinking'.
After building aircraft
engines for WWI, Spyker
introduced a variant of the
logo shown here as it
returned to building cars;
the logo features a spoke
wheel with a horizontal
propeller across.
Subaru is the first Japanese
company to use a name
derived from its own
language, and that name is
reflected in its logo. The
name refers to a group of
stars in the constellation of
Taurus (we refer to them
as the Pleiades, a cluster
that conatins a large
number stars, 14 of which
are visible to the naked eye
under optimal conditions).
Why six stars in the logo?
The five smaller stars
represent the five
companies that merged to
form Fuji Heavy Industries
(parent of Subaru) in 1953,
while the sixth star
represents the larger
unified company.
The origin of the Tesla
Motors logo is uncertain,
though appears to be a
cross between the letter 'T'
and perhaps the shape of a
Tesla coil, Nikola Tesla's
most well-known
invention.
The Toyota logo is
comprised of three
ellipses, representing the
heart of the customer, the
heart of the product, and
the ever expanding
technological
advancements and
opportunities that lie
ahead. Another
interpretation is that it
represents the three
interlocking aspects of the
culture of the company -
freedom, team spirit, and
progress. Also, in Japanese
'Toyo' means an
abundance of, and 'ta' is
rice (though the name
Toyota was chosen as it
was the founder's name,
not for its literal meaning).
In some Asian cultures,
those blessed with an
abundance of rice are
believe to be blessed with
great wealth.
The Vauxhall emblem
features a Griffen (a lion
with an eagle's head), from
Fulk le Breant's coat of
arms (though note that
many believed it to be a
Wyvern, but a close
exaimination of their logos
through history showed a
bushy tail and thus it must
be a Griffen). Mr. le
Breant was a mercenary
employed by King John in
the 13th century; granted
nobility status as a reward
for his service, and the
land he acquired became
known as Fulks Hall. Over
time, the name of the land
changed, first to Foxhall,
then Vaux Hall, and
eventually just Vauxhall.
The history of the Vector
Aeromotive Corporation
logo is uncertain, though
appears to be an inverted
'V'.
The modern day Venturi
logo was chosen in 1989,
and represents a gerfalcon
(the world's fastest animal,
clocked in excess of
280km/hr in a vertical
dive), set on a glove,
which symbolizes mastery.
Above the gerfalcon is the
sun of the region Loire.
The oval is a remnan of the
original logo. The 'V'
shape is in tribute to the
region of France, "Pays de
Loire", as the 'V'
represents a shield bearing
its coat of arms.
The Volkswagen logo is
simple, but the name has
an interesting meaning - in
German, it translates as the
"Peoples' Car".
Volvo means 'I Roll' in
Latin, and the circle/arrow
logo is the conventional
map sysmbol for steel
(which for a long time was
Sweden's most famous
industry). That
circle/arrow symbol isn't
arbitray, it represents the
shield and spear of Mars,
also the alchemical symbol
for iron.