Car logos are recognizable all over the world. Some car brand logos change frequently whilst others are unchanged since their creation. As we know, car companies have a unique history of how they managed to grow from a small entity into an enormous corporation that sells countless vehicles every year. Some of these stories are fascinating, especially when it comes to the origin of car logos.
Basically, the cars’ logo is the introduction to the companies’ interesting story with some representing inspiring experiences that the car companies went through to survive and thrive.
What To Ride takes you on a journey through some of the most interesting car logo stories!
Mercedes-Benz’s three-point star logo has been renowned for more than a century representing premium and luxury cars.
Enzo Ferrari, the founder of the famous supercar, once discussed the story of the prancing horse that is his logo. The famous Ferrari car symbol shows a black horse that prances in front of a yellow background, usually with the letters S F for Scuderia Ferrari accompanying it. It all began when Enzo Ferrari met the parents of Francesco Baracca, who was a national hero airman in the First World War.
The Lamborghini logo displays a bull or ‘Taurus’ which is not only Ferruccio Lamborghini’s zodiac sign but also a nod to his intense fascination with Spanish bullfighting. Bullfighting is the main part of Lamborghini’s inspiration as they are dubbed the ‘famous bulls’.
The Porsche logo pays homage to Stuttgart, the capital of Baden-Württemberg, where Porsche’s headquarters are located. Stuttgart is located in southwest Germany and was actually built atop a horse-breeding farm. Stuttgart used horses in its city seal, inspiring Porsche to make a black horse the centerpiece of its car logo representing power and the signet of Stuttgart.
The history of the name BMW (Bavarian Motor Works) dates back to 1917. The BMW car company’s home state of Bavaria was represented on the car company logo. The quarters of the inner circle on the BMW badge display in inverse order the colours of the State of Bavaria– white and blue.
The Spirit of Ecstasy is the figurine erected on the bonnet of the Rolls Royce car. The first Rolls-Royce motorcars did not feature radiator mascots; they simply carried the Rolls-Royce emblem. However, when Baron John Montagu appointed his friend and sculptor Charles Robinson Sykes, who was working under the nobleman’s patronage in London, to carve Eleanor Velasco Thornton as his personal mascot for the bonnet of his 1909 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost.
Only three or four castings were ever made, and only two are believed to have survived.
