Learn about the origin of the badges and logos of the most famous car brands

As you probably know, the logo or badge is the foundation of brand identity. Moreover, a logo conveys a sense of ownership and has become a visual representation of the company. Taking advantage of the fact that Peugeot has just updated its logo, let’s look at the origin of the badges and logos of the most famous car brands. Manufacturers such as Rolls-Royce, Volkswagen and Ford continue to maintain their aesthetics even though their lines have evolved.

If you think logos and badges are something simple, you’re mistaken; even the simplest logos have a story to tell. We bring you the origin of the badges and logos of the most famous car brands.

Volvo

Volvo began its journey by making bearings, which is why its name was created from the word ‘volvere’, meaning to roll. The name was registered in 1911, but the badge is older. The circle with an arrow pointing outward refers to an ancient chemical symbol for iron. Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson, founders of Volvo, wanted a strong symbol for the brand and drew inspiration from their work experience at a Swedish steel company.

BMW

Who doesn’t know the BMW logo? It is a austere and simple logotype, known for representing a spinning propeller against a blue sky, as a reference to BMW’s origins as an aircraft manufacturer. According to the Bavarian brand itself, the quarters of the inner circle of the BMW badge show the official colors of the state of Bavaria. However, in a heraldic sense, the colors are inverted from white and blue to blue and white. Local trademark law at the time did not allow sovereignty symbols in commercial logos. The propeller myth comes from a single advertisement printed in 1929 that showed an airplane with the BMW logo superimposed over a spinning propeller. BMW did not discourage the mythology and even played with it with further advertising based on propellers for its aero engines.

Porsche

The emblem used by Porsche is based on the coat of arms of the Free People’s State of Württemberg. However, its origin is not absolutely confirmed. There are two stories about its creation. One claims that Porsche engineer Franz Xaver Reimpies designed it, and the other says it came directly from the hand of Ferdinand Porsche’s son, Ferry. According to legend, Ferry Porsche sketched the logo on a napkin while meeting with the legendary American importer Max Hoffman. It is most likely that Ferry Porsche proposed it as an idea for a quality approval seal. In addition, the horse was added when the Porsche headquarters was built on a horse-breeding farm in Stuttgart.

Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce did not have ‘ornaments’ until Baron John Montagu commissioned Charles Robinson Sykes to create a personal mascot for his Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost of 1909. Montagu, who had a love affair with Eleanor Velasco Thornton, created an image of her with a billowing robe while she put her fingers to her lips. The statuette was called The Whisper. From then on, it became fashionable for Rolls-Royce cars to have figures on the bonnet. They again used the actress as a model and it was named The Spirit of Ecstasy. The designer describes the figure as “a small, elegant goddess, the spirit of ecstasy, who has chosen road travel as her supreme delight and has perched on the prow of a Rolls-Royce automobile to revel in the freshness of the air and the musical sound”.

Ferrari

The tradition of Ferrari says that the logo of the Cavallino Rampante directly references the ace of the fighter pilots and Italian national hero, Francesco Baracca. Enzo Ferrari later met Baracca’s mother after his death in 1918, and she told Ferrari that he should paint the pilot’s famous horse emblem on his cars to bring good luck. Ferrari did so and added the color yellow to represent his hometown of Modena. The shape of the badge has changed from side to side over the decades, but the Cavallino Rampante logo has remained the same.

Subaru

Subaru is the Japanese name for the star cluster of the Pleiades, also known as Messier 45 or the Seven Sisters (although the eye can see up to 14 stars). That explains the stars in the logo, but, as the name suggests, there are seven stars in the cluster. However, the original Japanese name is Mutsuraboshi, meaning six stars. From Earth and with the naked eye, up to 14 stars can be seen in the cluster, but the idea of six stars comes from the Japanese myth that one of the stars Seven Sisters is invisible. It is also said to allude to the five companies that came together to create Fuji Heavy Industries, which gave rise to the Subaru car company.

Toyota

Surprisingly, it is one of the most famous car brand logos yet it did not exist until 1989. It took five years to develop and was designed to help Toyota establish a strong identity in markets outside Japan. There is much marketing talk about the design, representing things like the internal ellipses symbolizing the fusion of the hearts of customers and the company, or the ellipses representing the three principles of Toyota’s culture: freedom, team spirit and progress. Of course, the shapes form a T, but the clever aspect of the logo is that you can trace every letter of the Toyota name within it.

Audi

In 1899, German engineer and automotive pioneer August Horch founded Horch & Cie in Cologne, Germany. In 1909, he left the company after a dispute and formed a new company using the Latin version of Horch, Audi Automobilwerke GmbH. In 1928, Jorgen Rasmussen, owner of the automobile company Dampf-Kraft-Wagen (DKW), acquired the majority of the shares in Audi. The three companies, Horch, Audi and DKW, merged with another vehicle manufacturer called Wanderer in 1937 to form Auto Union AG. Until World War II, all the companies used their existing names and logos. Auto Union used the emblem of four interlinked rings on its racing cars to reflect the connection of the four companies, and in 1969 the company name became Audi NSU Auto Union AG.