50 Fun Facts About Car Logos

BMW's blue-and-white roundel is wrongly said to show which aircraft part, a myth fuelled by a 1929 advert?

A propeller spinning against a blue sky appeared in a 1929 BMW advert, and the story stuck. The colours really come from the flag of the company's home state.

Which German carmaker's four interlocking rings stand for the four firms that banded together as Auto Union?

Audi shared the badge with Horch, DKW and Wanderer, one ring for each. August Horch founded two of the four, starting the second after he fell out with the board of the first.

Which horned animal leapt from the bonnet of Dodge cars from 1932 and later gave its name to a truck brand?

A ram leapt from Dodge bonnets until 1954, shrinking over the years to just a head with curling horns. It came back in the 1980s, and the trucks were later spun off as a brand of their own.

The original Corvette emblem lost which national banner before production, as putting it on a product was illegal?

The Stars and Stripes had to go because the US Flag Code bars the national flag from commercial products. When a V8 engine arrived, the letter V in the emblem was enlarged and coloured gold to show it.

Subaru's badge of six stars shows which star cluster, whose Japanese name the company took as its own?

The Pleiades are called Subaru in Japan and the Seven Sisters in the West. The badge shows only six because, by tradition, one of the sisters is invisible.

Ferrari's prancing horse was first painted on the aeroplane of Francesco Baracca, an Italian flying ace of which war?

World War I made Baracca a national hero, and his family later let Enzo Ferrari use the emblem. Baracca took the horse from his old cavalry regiment and repainted it so it would stand out on his plane.

Ferruccio Lamborghini chose his company's badge after visiting Don Eduardo Miura's ranch in Seville, which bred what?

Fighting bulls from the Miura ranch so impressed him in 1962 that he took a raging bull as his emblem. He later named a car after the family, and others after individual animals from the ring.

The three points of the Mercedes-Benz star stand for the use of Daimler engines in which three settings?

Land, sea and air were the three places Gottlieb Daimler wanted his engines to work. Years earlier he had marked his house on a postcard with a star and told his wife it would one day shine over his factories.

What name does Rolls-Royce give the figure of a woman in billowing robes that leans forward on its cars' bonnets?

Spirit of Ecstasy was sculpted by Charles Sykes, who used Eleanor Thornton as his model. It grew out of a private mascot he made for the car of her employer and lover, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu.

Which American brand's 'bowtie' badge may have been copied from wallpaper co-founder William Durant saw in France?

Chevrolet first wore the bowtie in 1914, and the wallpaper tale is only one version. Durant's wife remembered him spotting the shape in a newspaper while they were on holiday.

Which Japanese carmaker's badge is made of three overlapping ovals that combine to form the first letter of its name?

Toyota says the two inner ovals stand for the trust between customer and company, and the outer one for the global spread of its technology. The badge has been in use since 1989.

Volvo's badge, a circle with an arrow pointing up and to the right, is the old alchemical symbol for which metal?

Iron was picked to suggest strength, since Sweden was famous for the quality of its ore. The same sign stands for the planet Mars and for the male sex, so the badge is often misread.

Which French carmaker's lion emblem first stood for the strength and flexibility of the family firm's saw blades?

Peugeot applied for the lion trademark in 1858, decades before it built a car. The family firm had begun with a steel foundry, turning out saws, coffee grinders and corset stays.

The rearing horse at the centre of the Porsche crest comes from the coat of arms of which German city?

Stuttgart, Porsche's home, carries a horse on its arms because the city began in the tenth century as a stud farm for a duke's warhorses. Porsche added the arms to its crest in 1952.

Mitsubishi's badge illustrates its own Japanese name, which is usually translated into English as what?

Three diamonds is the usual English reading, but 'hishi' is literally the water caltrop, a pond plant whose name also came to mean a rhombus. The 'mitsu' part simply means three.

Maserati's trident badge copies the one held by a statue of Neptune in which Italian city, where Maserati began?

Bologna's Fountain of Neptune stands in Piazza Maggiore, and Mario Maserati drew the badge from it. He was the only brother who had chosen an artistic career over a racing one.

Cadillac's crest is based on the coat of arms of the French explorer who founded which American city in 1701?

Detroit was founded by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, and the carmaker took both his name and his arms. The company was formed in 1902 from the remnants of the Henry Ford Company.

Jaguar's springing-cat bonnet mascot, banned from cars sold in Europe on safety grounds, is known by which nickname?

The Leaper was barred from European cars for safety reasons, yet went on being fitted to cars bound for the United States, the Middle East and the Far East.

BMW's badge is quartered in the blue and white of which German state, where the company began?

Bavaria's flag gives the badge its colours, and the outer ring carrying the name was kept from Rapp, the engine maker that BMW grew out of. The state's blue and white go back to its old ruling house, the Wittelsbachs.

Alfa Romeo's badge pairs a giant serpent with a red cross on white, the emblem of which Italian city?

Milan is where the company was founded in 1910, and both halves of the badge are local heraldry. The serpent, the biscione, was the device of the Visconti family, who ruled the city in the 14th century.

Tesla's 'T' badge was inspired by which component of its cars, a design Nikola Tesla himself pioneered?

The electric motor in early Teslas was an induction design with a copper rotor, and the badge echoes its shape. Nikola Tesla, the company's namesake, developed that kind of machine in the 1880s.

Nissan says the Infiniti badge shows a road stretching to the horizon and which Japanese landmark?

Mount Fuji is the second reading of the two lines that meet in a point, a nod to the brand's Japanese origins. Nissan launched Infiniti in 1989, at first only in North America.

Citroën's double-chevron badge is said to echo the V pattern of which machine parts, André Citroën's first product?

Helical gears with a fishbone pattern ran more quietly, and Citroën bought the patent cheaply after seeing a carpenter working on a set during a trip to Poland. He built a business on them before he made cars.

Which Japanese luxury brand's badge is a stylised pair of calipers, a measuring tool, that doubles as a letter?

Acura introduced the caliper badge with the NSX sports car, to imply cars built to precise and demanding standards. It can also be read as a skewed H for Honda, the parent company.

Which Czech carmaker's badge is a winged arrow with three feathers set inside a ring?

Škoda once used two versions of the arrow, one with five feathers and one with three, and the three-feather design won out. The firm began as Laurin & Klement, a bicycle maker.

McLaren's original badge featured which flightless bird, a nod to founder Bruce McLaren's home country?

A kiwi, the icon of New Zealand, sat on the first badge, which was designed by the artist Michael Turner. Bruce McLaren founded his racing team in 1963.

Saab cars and Scania trucks shared a badge showing which mythical creature, also the emblem of Vauxhall?

A griffin comes from the arms of the Swedish province of Scania. Vauxhall's is from the arms of Falkes de Breauté, a 13th-century mercenary whose house, Fulk's Hall, gave Vauxhall its name.

Which Ford model, launched in 1964, wears a galloping horse badge credited to designer Philip Clark?

Mustang's pony began as Clark's sketch of a wild, running horse for the experimental Mustang I of 1962. Sculptor Charles Keresztes then turned the drawing into a three-dimensional badge.

The Plymouth car brand, launched in 1928, long wore a badge showing the bow of which famous sailing ship?

The Mayflower was shown from the front, tying the cars to the Pilgrims' landing at Plymouth Rock. The brand was created to compete in what was then called the low-priced field.

Which carmaker's angular 2021 logo was misread so often that web searches for a mystery 'KN car' surged?

Kia swapped its old circular logo for a new wordmark, and searches for the phantom brand jumped around March 2021, as cars wearing it reached the road. One estimate put them at 30,000 a month in the US.

Carlo Abarth put which creature, his own star sign, on the badge of the tuning company he founded in 1949?

A scorpion stands for Scorpio, Carlo Abarth's astrological sign. It sits on a yellow and red shield with a short, wide Italian flag across the middle.

The Bugatti Royale's radiator cap carries a sculpture by Ettore Bugatti's brother Rembrandt of which animal?

An elephant tops the radiator of the Royale, one of the largest cars in the world. Ettore planned to sell 25 of them to royalty, but only seven were made and just three found buyers.

Which German carmaker's badge is a lightning bolt in a ring, a symbol taken from one of its successful trucks?

Opel's bolt comes from the Blitz truck, whose name is the German word for lightning. By the 1950s it had been simplified into a horizontal flash shaped like a stretched letter Z.

Rolls-Royce changed the letters of its radiator monogram from red to which colour in 1933?

Black was chosen because red sometimes clashed with the coachwork colours that clients picked. The popular story that it marked the death of Henry Royce later that year is a myth.

The canary yellow behind Ferrari's prancing horse is the colour of which Italian city, Enzo Ferrari's home town?

Modena's yellow was added by the racing team when it adapted Baracca's emblem, along with the Italian tricolour. The team also changed the position of the horse's legs and tail.

Honda saves a red version of its 'H' badge for which performance line, a tribute to its first winning F1 car?

Type R cars carry the red badge and are offered in Championship White, both tributes to the Honda that first won a Grand Prix. The line began with a very limited NSX built for Japan from 1992.

Which General Motors brand, named after an Odawa chief, replaced its Native American headdress badge with an arrowhead?

Pontiac used the headdress until 1956 and later moved to the arrowhead, which ran up the bonnet from its split grille. The chief also gave his name to the Michigan city where the cars were built.

Which American luxury brand's four-pointed star badge descends from one first seen on the 1956 Continental Mark II?

Lincoln took its name from Abraham Lincoln, the first president its founder Henry Leland ever voted for. The star was redrawn into its familiar form in 1980.

The four letters ACBC on the Lotus badge are the initials of which founder of the company?

Colin Chapman was christened Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman. His first partners, Michael and Nigel Allen, were allegedly told that the letters stood for his name and the Allen Brothers.

Koenigsegg cars carry which small symbol, inherited from the Swedish Air Force squadron that once used its airfield?

A ghost was painted on the squadron's planes, and Koenigsegg adopted it as a tribute after moving into the abandoned airfield. The company settled at Ängelholm in the early 2000s.

MG's two letters have sat inside which shape since Morris Garages registered the badge as a trademark in 1924?

An octagon was linked with MG in a newspaper as early as November 1923, months before the trademark. The marque grew out of a sales promotion sideline at William Morris's garage business.

Dodge's 1960s logo, three arrowheads forming a three-pointed star, was given which meaningless name by a designer?

Fratzog was a nonsense word that simply stuck, and the badge ran from 1962 to 1981. In 2021 Dodge announced it would revive the emblem to mark its electric vehicles.

Alfa Romeo's fastest models wear which good-luck symbol, first painted on Ugo Sivocci's 1923 Targa Florio car?

A four-leaf clover on a white square was Sivocci's answer to his reputation as the eternal runner-up, and he won the race. It gave Alfa Romeo its first international victory.

Holden's lion-and-stone badge refers to a fable in which lions rolling stones inspired which invention?

The wheel is the punchline of the fable, and Rayner Hoff turned the tale into an emblem for Holden's Motor Body Builders. The Australian firm introduced the lion in 1928.

When Daimler and Benz merged in 1926, the Mercedes star was ringed by which emblem from the Benz badge?

A laurel wreath had framed the Benz name since 1909, and the merged firm wrapped it around Daimler's three-pointed star. The new trademark was labelled Mercedes Benz.

Rover, the British carmaker that began with bicycles, long wore a badge showing which kind of vessel?

A Viking longship fronted Rover cars for decades. The company, founded in 1878 as a bicycle maker, built its first car in 1904 and stayed independent until 1967.

The classic Datsun badge, kept by Nissan with its own name across it, was based on which Japanese symbol?

The rising sun of Japan's flag lies behind the name, echoing the country's nickname. After the rebrand the badge stayed the same, with the word Datsun simply replaced by Nissan.

The Morris Motors badge showed which animal wading across a river, the emblem of its founder's home city?

An ox fording the River Isis is the emblem of Oxford, a visual pun on the city's name. William Morris grew up there, and Morris Motors had its headquarters at Cowley.

Which American carmaker, founded in 1925 from the remains of Maxwell, adopted the five-pointed Pentastar logo in 1962?

Chrysler was named for its founder, Walter Chrysler. The star arrived in the same year that its sister brand Dodge adopted a three-pointed emblem of its own.

Hispano-Suiza's bonnet mascot copied the squadron emblem of French flying ace Georges Guynemer, which showed which bird?

A stork, the symbol of Alsace, was painted on the side of Guynemer's fighter, which flew with a Hispano-Suiza engine. The company put the bird on top of its radiators after the war.