THE AUTO CLUB... what does your car say about you?

The style of car we choose says a lot about us. But I’ve often wondered how related (or unrelated) the style and status afforded by our choice of vehicle is to the design of the mark. I’ve put them into three categories.

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Heraldry:

The Porsche logo is derived from the coat of arms of the city where Porsche began – Stuttgart.

Alfa Romeo’s heraldic from also references the history of it’s city of Milan.

The head of the fantastical ‘griffin’ found in the SAAB logo comes from a coat of arms from the county of Scania in Sweden(1).

Though BMW’s logo has pictorial roots (see Symbol category below), it nonetheless evokes an air of importance that could be said to derive from the cross-like structure found on many shields and historic insignias.

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Pure Type:

Though the origin of the Volkswagen logo cannot be determined accurately, there is little disagreement that the simple and timeless mark has been quite effective.

Though there are numerous different Honda logos, the one featured on cars these days is straightforward enough: a big H with a low center of gravity and increasing size from bottom up; it could be said to represent strength and reliability.

The original Ford type, Heavy Script No. 9, was enclosed in an oval in in 1912, and since 1928 there has been virtually no change to their wordmark(1).

The slab serif VOLVO logo we encounter most today is a simple typographic mark created in 1959, however another version is discussed in Symbol section below.

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Symbol:

While the abstract Toyota logo resembles a T, it is actually three elipses depicting the heart of the customer, the heart of the product, and the ever-expanding technological advancements and boundless opportunities(2).

I’ve always thought, and I know I’m not alone in this, that it’s an abstracted bull.

Subaru is the Japanese name for the Pleides star cluster it was named after; Suburu means “to gather together,” as their seven categories of automobiles and the seven stars in the logo do(3).

Chevrolet has one of the most distinctive marks, however abstract and arbitrary (legend has it that designer Durant copied the bowtie design from the wallpaper in a Paris Hotel.)

Mercedes uses a three-pointed star supposed to represent the company’s ambition of universal motorization: “on land, on water and in the air”. (Check out a recent parody at the end of this post… I wonder what they’re trying to say?)

Saturn is one of my personal favorites (though I’m a dedicated VW girl); it sets itself ‘a world apart’ with this mark.

The Citroen name began as a successful factory known for its’ ‘herring bone’ gear; the trademark took the herring bone form long before the company began to manufacture cars. It’s been recently updated but still retains the original form.

Chrysler reissued an old seal within wings (designed in the 90s) to accompany their ever-present logotype, usually seen with the “pentastar”, which is supposed to convey the pride, passion and commitment they have for building great vehicles.

Bavarian Motor Works (BMW) originally produced aircraft motors; the symbol (shown up above in heraldry section) is derived from a rotating propeller.

The old VOLVO logo still found on some transportation products employs a diagonal arrow like that of the symbol for Mars or Man.

Audi’s ‘Four Rings’ represent an almost century-old merger of four companies. I can’t help but think of “excellence”. Is that because of its’ resemblance to the Olympic rings perhaps?

Jaguar seems to hope to represent its’ cars as exotic, fast, and powerful.

Take flight in a Bentley, if you can afford to. (I can’t say I’ve ever seen one of these on the I-5 around Portland).
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Spoofs/Parodies

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1 Source for much of the historical facts: Marks of Excellence by Per Mollerup
2 www.dinesh.com
3 Decoding Design by Maggie Macnab