ABARTH
Abarth is an Italian racing car maker founded by Italian-Austrian Karl (Carlo) Abarth in Turin in 1949. Abarth was sold to Fiat on July 31 1971, and the racing team sold to Enzo Osella. Abarth became the racing department of Fiat, managed by famed engine designer Aurelio Lampredi.
The Abarth logo consists of the following key elements
- The shape of the logo represents a shield which symbolizes the notion of victory. You can find some of the other racing logos like Porsche also have a shield in their logo.
- The red, white and green represent the colors of the Italian Flag.
- The scorpion is the key part of the logo and represents the astrological sign of Karl Alberto Abarth who was born on November 15th 1908.
- The red and yellow colors apparently represent the racing world.
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Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo gets an automobile logo design award for including a lot of history in their logo. Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian automaker founded on June 24, 1910 in Milan. The logo is split in half and contains the emblems of Alfa’s hometown Milan and the one of the great Milanese ‘Visconti’ family. On the left is the red cross on a white background, which refers back to the days of the First Crusade, when many Milanese soldiers were amongst the Lombards who followed Giovanni of Rho to the Holy Land. The red cross was their symbol, whilst the white background symbolised the white shirts they were forced to wear under their armour to protect them from the fierce Palestinian sun. On the right of the badge are the arms of the Visconti family, which later became recognised as those of the City of Milan. Some says the serpent represents the snakes that the Lombards used to wear round their necks in a little case as a lucky charm, – or the dragon which, at the start of the fifth century, plagued Milan and was finally killed by Uberto, Squire of Angera, and founder of the Visconti family, – or it could be the symbol of Ottone Visconti who fought a victorious duel with the Saracen leader, Voluce, during the First Crusade. The city of Milan, however, claims that the serpent has nothing to do with the Visconti family.
Because this company prides itself on its history and national heritage, the Alfa Romeo logo is representative of a core company value.
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Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company’s founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire. The logo of Aston Martin is a flying roc with wings wide spread, on each of which writes ASTON and MARTIN, indicating that the company has the velocity and ambition of a roc.
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Audi
The Audi badge the ‘Four Rings’ is the emblem of one of the oldest car manufacturers in Germany. It symbolizes the 1932 merger of the four independent motor-vehicle manufacturers: Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer. Together with the NSU brand, which joined in 1969, these companies are the roots of the present-day AUDI AG. And there are also four wheels on the automobile, this logo ties in to the industry the company serves. After the war the Audi name – which is Latin for “Hear!” – disappeared after WWII, but was revived in 1965, using the four rings as a logo. Also, the name is sort of a pun on ‘hoerch’, German for ‘hear’, name of one of the founders. The company itself is more than a century old.
The new logo, released in September 2009 changes the font and also improves on the 3-dimensional aspect of the rings. The logo shown on the left was the logo in place before 2009. The 4 rings are almost identical to the current logo, apparently its hard for the casual eye to notice. The Audi font is different. The four rings in the logo have nothing to do with the Olympic rings.
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BMW
This iconic German automaker’s logo wins a logo design award for being recognizable all over the world. This may be at least in part because the logo hasn’t changed over the almost century this company has been in operation.
BMW stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke or Bavarian Motor Company. The company was established in 1913 and based in Munich, Germany. It started out as an aero engine manufacturer, hence the company logo. The logo comprised of four quadrants of alternating white and blue color. It is a stylized representation of an airplane propeller spinning against the clear blue sky. The logo represents a white propeller blade against a blue sky. It reflects the origins of BMW as a maker of military aircraft engines during WWI. Also, white and blue are the traditional colors of Bavaria. However, the design is simple and abstract enough that it hasn’t needed any changes.
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Buick
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).
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BENTLEY
Bentley Motors Limited is a British manufacturer of automobiles founded on 18 January 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley (known as W.O. Bentley or just “W.O.”). Mr. Bentley had been previously known for his range of rotary aero-engines in World War I, the most famous being the Bentley BR1 as used in later versions of the Sopwith Camel. Since 1998, the company has been owned by the Volkswagen Group of Germany. Bentley’s winged and flying B logo has been used since the first Bentley motor made its appearance.
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Cadillac
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. Cadillac is a luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors Company. Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mainly in North America. The Couronne (Crown)-The crown symbolizes the six ancient counts of France. Each tip is topped with a pearl, a symbol of descendancy from the royal counts of Tolouse. The Shield-In heraldry, a shield represents the origins of a noble family. Its shape is of no consequence, and it pertains to those shield shapes used during the Crusades. The original Cadillac shield though, is round. The First and Fourth Quarterings-They display the arms de la Mothe. The color- black against gold- represents wisdom and riches. The “fess” or lateral black bar, represents an award for Crusader service. The Second and Third Quarterings-The red band symbolizes prowess and boldness in action. The silver represents purity, charity, virtue, and plenty. The blue represents knightly valor. The emblem was adopted for use on Cadillac cars in 1905. It was registered as a trademark on August 7, 1906.
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Chevrolet
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).
Chevrolet (of Swiss origin) (also known as Chevy) is a brand produced by General Motors Company. It is the top selling GM marque, with “Chevrolet” or “Chevy” being at times synonymous with GM. Chevrolet offers 18 vehicles and many different enhanced versions in its home market. The vehicles range from subcompact cars to medium duty commercial trucks. Its number one seller in the United States is the Silverado pickup. The straightforward Chevy logo may seem mundane to the spectator at the first glance but it indeed holds huge significance in the corporate world. A brilliant simple cross in customary metallic colors representing the automobile industry defines the Chevy logo completely. Being a very simple yet elegant trademark, the Chevy logo design compels an everlasting impact on the human mind.
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Chrysler
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.
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Citroen
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 Citroen logo looks like something you might see on an American cartoon soldier – two inverted Vs. Andre Citroen – imagine one of those old black and white photographs with an ancient man in a white beard – started in the motor trade by building gear wheels before branching out into the motorcar, and the twin chevrons << are meant to represent gear teeth in honour of the old engineer’s early fettlings The company’s famous “double chevron” logo derives from André Citroën’s early business in gear-cutting the company pioneered mass production of double helically-cut gear teeth, which mesh together in a chevron
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Cizeta
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).
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Corvette
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.
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Daewoo
The origin of the Daewoo logo is representative of an image the company was striving for – growth as an automaker, stability in all the operations, and trust between company and customers.
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Dodge
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.
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Ferrari
The prancing horse featured on the Ferrari logo was the emblem of Italian WWII 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.
All racing fans are very familiar with the famous Ferrari “prancing horse” symbol. The famous symbol of Ferrari is a black prancing horse on yellow background, usually with the letters S F for Scuderia Ferrari. The horse was originally the symbol of Count Francesco Baracca, a legendary “asso” (ace) of the Italian air force during World War I, who painted it on the side of his planes. Baracca died very young on June 19, 1918, shot down after 34 victorious duels and many team victories.
He soon became a national hero. Baracca had wanted the prancing horse on his planes because his squad, the “Battaglione Aviatori”, was enrolled in a Cavalry regiment (air forces were at their first years of life and had no separate administration), and also because he himself was reputed to be the best cavaliere of his team.
The Scuderia Ferrari logo Coat of Arms of the City of Stuttgart. It has been supposed that the choice of a horse was perhaps partly due to the fact that his noble family was known for having plenty of horses in their estates at Lugo di Romagna. Another theory suggests Baracca copied the rampant horse design from a shot down German pilot having the emblem of the city of Stuttgart on his plane. Interestingly, German sports car manufacturer Porsche, from Stuttgart, borrowed its prancing horse logo from the city’s emblem. Furthermore astonishing: Stuttgart is an over the centuries modified version of Stutengarten (an ancient german word for “Gestüt”, translated into english as mare garden or stud farm, into italian as “scuderia”).
On June 17, 1923, Enzo Ferrari won a race at the Savio track in Ravenna, and there he met the Countess Paolina, mother of Baracca. The Countess asked that he use the horse on his cars, suggesting that it would grant him good luck, but it the first race at which Alfa would let him use the horse on Scuderia cars was eleven years later, at SPA 24 Hours in 1932. Ferrari won. Ferrari left the horse black as it had been on Baracca’s plane; however, he added a yellow background because it was the symbolic color of his birthplace, Modena. The prancing horse has not always identified the Ferrari brand only: Fabio Taglioni used it on his Ducati motorbikes. Taglioni’s father was in fact a companion of Baracca’s and fought with him in the 91st Air Squad, but as Ferrari’s fame grew, Ducati abandoned the horse; this may have been the result of a private agreement between the two brands. The prancing horse is now a trademark of Ferrari.
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Fiat
FIAT was founded in Turin on July 12, 1899. The first plant, inaugurated in 1900 at Corso Dante, had 235 employees and produced 24 automobiles. The first automobile to bear the Fiat brand name was a model 4 HP
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 space between the letters represents the light he could see between the letters of the sign. The FIAT name is an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Car Factory of Turin), founded by a group of investors–Giovanni Agnelli among them–in 1899. The current Fiat logo has the letters F-I-A-T written with a silver line between each of them. The lines were added by the company’s design chief when one day passing under the factory, he noticed the sky at the backdrop of the huge FIAT letters on the top of the building. The lines added are actually the spaces that he saw in the name over the building and decided to keep it.
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Ford
The Ford oval trademark is one of the best-known corporate symbols in the world and has been in regular use for more than 50 years. The script trademark dates back to the very beginning of the company when Henry Ford’s engineering assistant developed a stylised version of the words “Ford Motor Company”.
Henry Ford’s right-hand-man, Harold Wills, printed business cards 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. This last logo is the blue oval that Ford released in 2003 in honor of the 100 years Ford Motor Company had been around. It was named the “Centennial Blue Oval”.
FIAT was founded in Turin on July 12, 1899. The first plant, inaugurated in 1900 at Corso Dante, had 235 employees and produced 24 automobiles. The first automobile to bear the Fiat brand name was a model 4 HP
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 space between the letters represents the light he could see between the letters of the sign. The FIAT name is an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Car Factory of Turin), founded by a group of investors–Giovanni Agnelli among them–in 1899. The current Fiat logo has the letters F-I-A-T written with a silver line between each of them. The lines were added by the company’s design chief when one day passing under the factory, he noticed the sky at the backdrop of the huge FIAT letters on the top of the building. The lines added are actually the spaces that he saw in the name over the building and decided to keep it.
The Ford oval trademark is one of the best-known corporate symbols in the world and has been in regular use for more than 50 years. The script trademark dates back to the very beginning of the company when Henry Ford’s engineering assistant developed a stylised version of the words “Ford Motor Company”.
Henry Ford‘s right-hand-man, Harold Wills, printed business cards 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. This last logo is the blue oval that Ford released in 2003 in honor of the 100 years Ford Motor Company had been around. It was named the “Centennial Blue Oval”.