UPDATE March 29, 2022: A leaked image from an Instagram account confirms what we suspected from the earlier trademark filings, showing us what the new, tweaked Buick tri-shield logo looks like in living color. The image shows a hand peeling away the interior camouflage from what otherwise looks a lot like a Cadillac Lyriq’s interior. So, in addition to a look at the new logo—horizontally leveled, with colored swooshes embedded within—we also seem to be getting a sneak preview of Buick’s upcoming Lyriq-based EV.
We’re sure, given the trademark filing and this leak, there’s a lot more to come as we flesh out Buick’s EV plans through both official and unofficial channels.
Buick has seemingly been stuck at the back-end of parent-company General Motors’ plans to launch a ton of new electric vehicles across the company portfolio in the next few years—Buick was even left out of GM’s big Super Bowl commercial this year that previewed many of these new cars. But it seems GM is making up for lost time, as a new filing at the U.S. trademark office suggests Buick will get a brand redesign soon, likely to bolster upcoming news of all-new electrified vehicles.
THAT’S Not a Buick Badge!
Cadillac was the first GM automaker to tweak its badge design recently, simplifying the classic shield into something with less color, simpler shapes, and better graphic readability from a distance, especially now that the badge will light up and glow on some new cars, too. Last year, GM also updated its corporate look with a new, clean approach to its already simple grey-and-blue “GM” badge design. According to a recent trademark filing, the redesign wave at GM has now hit Buick, which might soon be receiving a new logo.
The new look is described as consisting “of three stylized shields,” which look to have a graphic 3D, “reflective” chrome effect detail. It would seem Buick has kept the central trio of “stylized shields” from its old logo and simply removed the surrounding circle from the design, leaving behind those three simplified, floating shields. The way these things go, it’s no surprise to see the trademark filing list the intended use of the new mark design on everything from “motor vehicles” as you might expect, to jewelry, clothing, books, keychains, and anything else they may want to slap a Buick logo on and sell.
It’s always possible this new trademark is just one design consideration, and we may never see Buick actually update its logo game, but it seems like an obvious move considering the Cadillac and GM redesigns before it. CarBuzz claims to be the first to have spotted the new trademark.
The trademark filing showed up just this week, and it’s not clear when General Motors plans to officially roll out the Buick redesign, if it is indeed in the cards. It could wait until it has a new-wave vehicle to slap the new badge on, like the upcoming compact EV crossovers it has planned. Buick’s new EVs will be built on GM’s new Ultium vehicle platform, and at least two will be small crossovers, and are expected to go on sale by 2025.
Keyword: New Buick Tri-Shield Logo Apparently Leaked, Shown Inside Upcoming EV