Some brands have interesting factoids associated with the creation of their logo, while others can only be explained speculatively.
Luxury car manufacturers spend fortunes agonizing over products like the new 911 or Lamborghini Revuelto, but they also spend a bundle cultivating the ideal public image, creating a persona that resonates with the customers the brand is trying to attract. The first point of contact when discovering a new brand for the first time is undoubtedly the company logo, and while some have basic and bland explanations behind their logos and company names – Ford, for example, is pretty self-explanatory – others are more interesting.
For instance, Fisker's logo, which includes a topside semicircle in orange and a bottom semicircle in blue, represents the sun setting into the Pacific Ocean, while the two vertical stripes in the center indicate that the company was started by two people, Henrik Fisker and Berhard Koehler.
In this piece, we're going to unpack the explanations behind 10 top luxury manufacturers' logo designs. We start in Italy and close in Germany, stopping in Japan, the UK, and America along the way.
Alfa Romeo
Milanese automaker Alfa Romeo originally traded simply as A.L.F.A. (Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili) until 1915, when entrepreneur Nicola Romeo took control of the company. Before and after Romeo's arrival, the company used two of the traditional symbols of Milan to make up the badge. On the left is the cross of the municipality, while the right side depicts the serpent seen on the ruling House of Visconti's coat of arms.
Several theories behind the choice to include a snake exist, with some claiming this referred to a local legend about a dragon that tormented the region in the fifth century. However, according to Jalopnik, Alfa Romeo's official answer is that the serpent is not eating a man (or, as some have horrifically suggested, a child) but orally giving birth to him, coming out a “new man, purified and renewed,” just as a snake renews itself by shedding skin. Besides a short flirtation with red and gold logo (1946-1950) caused by a supplier being bombed, the logo has retained the same basic color scheme throughout several variations, but in the future, the man will soon be replaced to represent an electrified future.
The Quadrifoglio logo that adorns high-performance Alfa Romeo vehicles has a clearer history. A hugely experienced racer called Ugo Sivocci was hired by Alfa in 1920 but was often the victim of poor luck, finishing several races in second. When the Targa Florio came around, Sivocci had enough and decided to paint a white square with a green four-leaf clover on his car. Miraculously, he won the race. Sadly, a few months later, Sivocci was killed while testing a new car at Monza. That car did not have the quadrifoglio. But every racing Alfa thereafter did, with the white square replaced by a triangle.
Aston Martin
As so many others have done, Aston Martin has updated its logo several times over the decades, but the basic design has remained roughly the same. As you may know, the name comes from the occasion of co-founder Lionel Martin taking on the Aston Clinton Hill Climb and winning. The wings, on the other hand, first appeared in 1932, inspired by the scarab beetles of Egyptian mythology. Those beetles were seen by Egyptians as an extension of the sun god, symbolizing a new beginning.
The badge was first affixed to the Aston Martin LM1 racer and was updated to include the David Brown name a few decades later. David Brown acquired the company in 1947 and added his name to the logo in 1954. It stayed there until he sold Aston Martin Lagonda in 1972.
Audi
This is a pretty well-known story, but it's worth revisiting. Audi's logo, represented as four interlocking rings, comes from the fact that the company we know today was formed from the remnants of four separate automakers, namely Audi, DKW, Horch, and Wanderer. These four became Auto Union AG in 1932, the second-largest vehicle manufacturing group in Germany at the time. The logo was lightly refreshed in November 2022.
Naturally, each of the four brands has its own history, but we want to focus specifically on the name we know today. The company was founded by August Horch, and Horch could obviously not use his own name since a competitor already existed with the same title. The solution was to translate Horch's name (a German word meaning “hark!” or “listen!”) into Latin. Now you know why Audi is so similar to “audio.”
In 1965, Volkswagen had taken over and relaunched the Audi brand, merging Auto Union with NSU Motorenwerkein 1968. The other remnants of its past practically disappeared, but the Horch nomenclature was reused by Audi on an ultra-luxurious A8 in 2021.
Bentley
The ornate 'Flying B' mascot seen on some Bentley models may appear to be the oldest, but the current design seen on a two-dimensional badge is actually the one most similar to the first identifier. The so-called 'Winged B' was designed by a friend of founder W.O. Bentley, F. Gordon Crosby, who is described as “the most famous motoring artist of the pre-war years.” He reportedly came up with the Winged B as a means of representing the exhilaration of motion, but it is also quite likely that the decision was made in reference to W.O. Bentley's prior background in designing engines for airplanes. Notably, Crosby gave each wing a different number of feathers to make it truly unique and to make forgery more difficult.
The Genesis logo is clearly intended to carry the prestige symbolized by the Bentley logo. We'd argue it's doing a better job of keeping wings classy than Chrysler ever did, but nobody has a monopoly on implying flight on road cars.
The Flying B was designed by Charles Sykes, the same artist who came up with Rolls-Royce's Spirit of Ecstasy. Therefore, the design that appears older and more ornate is actually based on that which inspired the two-dimensional design seen on most Bentleys today.
BMW
The real story behind the BMW logo is one we've covered before, but it's worth revisiting. Many incorrectly assume that BMW's logo is also inspired by aviation, as Bentley's may have been, with the roundel supposedly signifying spinning propeller blades.
BMW itself propagated this rumor, which is why so many are adamant that it's accurate. While it's true that BMW began as an airplane engine manufacturer – Bayerische Motoren Werke – the design is actually derived from Bavaria's state colors. It's not an exact copy, however, as local trademark laws at the time expressly forbade using the state's coat of arms in commercial logos.
The M tricolor design has an interesting backstory too. BMW wanted to attract a sponsor for its motorsport activities and to try to impress the bigwigs at the oil company, BMW combined Texaco's red and blue (the latter of which was similar to the color on the Bavaria state flag) with the two meeting in the middle to create purple, representing the two entities joining in unison. The deal ultimately fell through, but the colors looked good, so BMW stuck with them. Expect these stripes to evolve in the future.
Cadillac
The Cadillac crest comes from the coat of arms of Le Sieur de la Mothe Cadillac, the man who founded the city of Detroit in 1701. The idea behind adopting this name in 1902 was to indicate to the industry the “courage, enterprise, and ability that the French explorer displayed.” It first appeared on the automaker's cars in 1905 and was registered as a trademark the following year.
Cadillac explains that the couronne, or coronet, symbolizes the six ancient courts of France, while the pearls signify that the family is descended from the royal counts of Toulouse. The shield also implies a family of nobility and comes from the shape of crusaders' shields. The quarterlings show the arms of the Mothe family, while the birds, called “merlettes,” are adaptations of the martin but without beaks or legs. Black and gold signify wisdom and riches.
Basically, the Cadillac logo comes from the family of the man whose name inspired its own, and the imagery has nothing to do with cars or mobility in any way. It's only meant to show class and, therefore, luxury.
Ferrari
Ferrari is just one of several automakers with a horse on its badge and its founder's surname on the door, but it's certainly the most famous. The story is that founder Enzo Ferrari met Countess Paolina Baracca in 1923 and suggested that he put the prancing horse sported on her son's Italian air force plane during World War I for good luck. Francesco Baracca was shot down and chose to take his own life rather than be captured, but Enzo still stuck with it. The yellow element of the logo references the yellow on the flag of Modena, from whence Enzo hailed. The S and F on early Ferrari shield depictions stood for Scuderia and Ferrari, meaning Ferrari Stables. Today, the term is often used to denote an Italian motorsport team, and you can probably thank Enzo's racing addiction for that.
Lamborghini
We all know that Ferruccio founded his company as a direct rival to Ferrari, but the shape of the shield was no coincidence either. Before we get to that, the bull signifies two things. First, founder Ferruccio Lamborghini was born under the Zodiac sign Taurus, represented by a bull. Secondly, he had a passion for bullfighting, which is why so many of the supercars coming out of Sant'Agata are named after famous fighting bulls.
At the time of its unveiling, the shield was berated for being too similar to Ferrari's, but Ferruccio made no bones about his intent for the new car-making company. Choosing a powerful animal for the crest served as yet another dig at Old Man Enzo.
The original design saw a black-and-white bull on a red background with a black outline. The black-and-gold scheme we're accustomed to today appeared in 1972 before disappearing in 1974 when the design went monochrome. The current ink and aureate scheme returned in 1998.
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a mix of Mercedes Jellinkek and Carl Benz. The automaker was founded by Benz and Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler as part of Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, or DMG. The company was first known as Daimler-Benz, but after Gottlieb Daimler died, Emil Jellinek joined the company and helped develop the 35hp in 1900. He named the car after his daughter, who was named by her Argentinian mother. The company trademarked the name Mercedes the following year, and the Latin name gradually began finding a home on various further German vehicles.
The three-pointed star reportedly came from the wish to convey dominance over the land, sea, and air because the founders believed that their engines would dominate these industries. Other sources claim it's because Gottlieb sent his wife a postcard and marked his residence with a three-pointed star. Regardless, in 1926, this logo was enclosed by a circle when Daimler and Benz merged. A four-pointed star was also trademarked but never used.
Meanwhile, the Mercedes-AMG logo's right side shows a cam, a valve, and a valve spring, while the left side shows an apple tree and a river, which is the historic coat of arms for Affalterbach, the home of AMG's headquarters.
Porsche
The Porsche crest was first suggested as a quality seal for the 356 in 1952 and has seen very few changes since then. The crest was said to have been sketched by Franz Xaver Reimspiess, who also reportedly designed the Volkswagen logo in 1936. The middle of the design integrates the horse from the Stuttgart coat of arms, while the name of the city is also depicted. The red and black you see are the state colors, while the stylized antlers come from the crest of Wurttemberg-Hohenzollern. The PORSCHE script across the top acts as a sort of roof encompassing all of these design elements.
The name, obviously, comes from founder Ferdinand Porsche. The brand's naming strategy, on the other hand, is much more complicated.
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Keyword: The Art of Luxury Car Logos And Names: How 10 Top Brands Created Their Iconic Images