Car logos are compact visual stories: most famous car brand emblems come from a founder’s family crest, a city’s coat of arms, a zodiac sign or a technical idea, then get simplified over decades.
The guide below groups 18 well-known car brands logos by country (Germany, Italy, Japan and Korea, the USA, France and Britain), explains the recurring symbols such as horses, wings and stars, separates documented history from popular myths and ends with practical lessons you can apply to your own logo.
What do the symbols in car logos mean?
The symbols in car logos usually signal one of four things: speed and power (horses, bulls, wings), heritage and place (shields, crests, city colors), ambition (stars) or engineering (letters and technical shapes).
Animals and wings dominated early badges because cars competed with horses and, after the First World War, with the glamour of aviation. Shields and crests borrowed the authority of heraldry. Modern brands lean toward flat letters and simple geometry, because a badge now has to work on a grille, an app icon and a 16-pixel browser tab.
| Symbol | Brands that use it | What it signals |
|---|---|---|
| Horse | Ferrari, Porsche, Ford Mustang (model emblem) | Power, speed, local pride |
| Bull | Lamborghini | Founder’s zodiac sign, aggression |
| Wings | Aston Martin, Bentley | Aviation-era speed and freedom |
| Stars | Mercedes-Benz, Subaru | Ambition, unity of merged companies |
| Shield or crest | Porsche, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Peugeot | Heritage, city and regional identity |
| Animal (other) | Peugeot (lion), Alfa Romeo (serpent) | Strength, civic history |
| Letters and geometry | BMW, Volkswagen, Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, Tesla | Engineering, clarity, modernity |
German car logos: BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Volkswagen
German brands rely on circles, crests and initials, and each of the big four links its badge to a specific place, founder or engineering idea rather than to an abstract concept.
BMW
The BMW roundel was registered in 1917, when Bayerische Motoren Werke took over the black outer ring from its predecessor Rapp Motorenwerke. The blue and white quarters refer to Bavaria, shown in reverse order because state emblems could not be used in a commercial trademark. The full story is in our upcoming BMW logo history.
Mercedes-Benz
The three-pointed star was registered as a trademark by Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft in June 1909. Gottlieb Daimler had once marked his house with a star on a postcard, and the three points stand for motorization on land, on water and in the air. Read more in the Mercedes-Benz star explained.
Porsche
The Porsche crest was created in 1952 and first appeared on the horn button at the end of that year, according to the Porsche Newsroom. The black horse comes from the coat of arms of Stuttgart, while the red and black stripes and stylized antlers come from the crest of Württemberg. Details are in our Porsche crest guide.
Volkswagen
The Volkswagen badge stacks a V over a W inside a circle, a monogram for “people’s car”. At the 2019 Frankfurt motor show (IAA), Volkswagen presented a flat, two-dimensional version designed for screens first. See the Volkswagen logo evolution for every redesign.
Italian car logos: Ferrari, Lamborghini and Alfa Romeo
Italian emblems with horses, bulls and serpents tell personal and civic stories: a war hero’s emblem, a founder’s star sign and the coat of arms of Milan.
Ferrari
The prancing horse was painted on the plane of Francesco Baracca, an Italian fighter ace of the First World War. On 17 June 1923 Enzo Ferrari met Baracca’s parents, and the horse later became his emblem, set on canary yellow, the color of Modena. Ferrari’s own magazine says the Prancing Horse first appeared in 1932 on Scuderia Ferrari’s racing Alfa Romeos. More in the Ferrari logo story.
Lamborghini
Ferruccio Lamborghini was born on 28 April 1916 under the sign of Taurus, and a charging bull became the emblem of the company he founded in 1963. His interest in fighting bulls also shaped model names such as Miura. The full timeline is in our Lamborghini logo article.
Alfa Romeo
The Alfa Romeo badge, created in 1910 for A.L.F.A. in Milan, joins two civic symbols: the red cross on a white field of the city and the “biscione” serpent of the Visconti family. Few emblems are as tied to a single city.
Japanese and Korean car logos: Toyota, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Kia
Japanese and Korean brands favor abstract geometry with a documented meaning: ellipses, stars and diamonds that stand for customers, mergers or family crests.
Toyota
The current Toyota emblem debuted in October 1989. Two perpendicular inner ellipses form a T; Toyota says one represents the heart of the customer and the other the heart of the product, joined inside a larger ellipse. Read the Toyota logo meaning for the full breakdown.
Subaru
Subaru is the Japanese name of the Pleiades star cluster, and the badge shows one large and five small stars. The stars represent Fuji Heavy Industries, formed in 1953 from five companies that merged into one.
Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi means “three diamonds”. Founder Yataro Iwasaki combined the three stacked diamonds of his family crest with the three oak leaves of the Tosa clan crest, creating one of the oldest corporate marks still on cars.
Hyundai and Kia
The slanted Hyundai H is a stylized picture of two people shaking hands, the company and the customer. Kia replaced its oval badge on 6 January 2021 with a new logo drawn to resemble a handwritten signature.
American car logos: Ford, Chevrolet and Tesla
American badges are mostly typographic or geometric, built around a script, a simple shape or a single letter that reads instantly on a highway.
Ford
The Ford oval was first used in 1907 by Perry, Thornton and Schreiber, Ford’s agents in Britain. The Model A of 1927 was the first Ford to carry the oval as a radiator badge with the deep blue background that became the Blue Oval. The Mustang’s running horse is a model emblem, introduced with the car in 1964, and is often mistaken for a separate brand.
Chevrolet
William C. Durant introduced the Chevrolet bowtie in late 1913. Its origin is genuinely disputed: Durant’s own account cites a wallpaper pattern in a French hotel, while his daughter and his widow each told different stories.
Tesla
The Tesla T is more than an initial. In January 2017 Elon Musk wrote that the T is like a cross section of an electric motor, with the main stroke as a rotor pole and the curved line above as part of the stator. More in the Tesla logo explained.
French and British car logos: Peugeot, Aston Martin and Bentley
French and British emblems with wings and lions draw on 19th-century industry and early aviation, two eras when speed and strength were the strongest selling points.
Peugeot
The Peugeot lion predates the car. Adopted in 1850 to mark the company’s steel saws, it became the brand’s official mark in 1858. In 2021 Peugeot introduced a shield with a lion’s head, close in spirit to its 1960s badge.
Aston Martin and Bentley
Car logos with wings were a product of aviation fever. Bentley’s Winged B was designed in 1919 by F. Gordon Crosby to express the thrill of motion, and Aston Martin adopted its first winged badge in 1927.
Car logo myths vs facts
Several popular car logo stories are myths that started in advertising or fan forums; the documented history is usually simpler and more local.
| Myth | Fact |
|---|---|
| The BMW roundel is a spinning propeller | Registered in 1917 with Bavarian colors; the propeller idea comes from a 1929 BMW advertisement |
| Ferrari and Porsche share the same horse | Ferrari’s horse comes from Baracca’s plane, Porsche’s from Stuttgart’s coat of arms |
| Chevrolet’s bowtie certainly came from Paris wallpaper | The origin is disputed; three family accounts conflict |
| Tesla’s T is just the first letter | Musk compared it to the cross section of an electric motor |
| The Mustang horse is Ford’s brand logo | The pony is a model emblem; Ford’s brand mark is the Blue Oval |
Lessons from car logos for your own brand
The best car logos teach three practical lessons: tie the symbol to a real story, keep the shape simple enough to work at tiny sizes, and refine it over time instead of starting over.
- Use a true origin. Ferrari, Porsche and Alfa Romeo still benefit from symbols with documented roots. A made-up legend gets fact-checked eventually.
- Design for small screens. Volkswagen in 2019 and Kia in 2021 moved to flat marks that stay legible as app icons. Test your mark at 16 by 16 pixels with the Favicon Generator.
- Limit colors and details. Two or three colors and one clear silhouette survive chrome, embroidery and print.
- Evolve gradually. Peugeot’s lion has changed many times without losing recognition.
If you are naming or shaping a new brand, start with the Brand Generator to explore names and visual directions, then compare your ideas with other hubs such as famous fast food logos and their hidden meanings.
FAQ
What car logos have horses?
Ferrari and Porsche are the best-known car logos with horses. Ferrari’s black prancing horse comes from First World War pilot Francesco Baracca, while Porsche’s horse is taken from the coat of arms of Stuttgart. The Ford Mustang also uses a running horse, but that pony is a model emblem rather than Ford’s brand logo, which remains the Blue Oval.
What car logos have wings?
Aston Martin and Bentley are the classic car logos with wings. Bentley’s Winged B was designed in 1919 by F. Gordon Crosby to express motion, and Aston Martin adopted wings in 1927, when aviation was the most glamorous technology of the day. Several smaller and historic brands also used wings, but these two are the most recognized today.
What car logos have stars?
Mercedes-Benz and Subaru are the main car logos with stars. The Mercedes three-pointed star, registered in 1909, stands for motorization on land, water and air. Subaru’s six stars show the Pleiades cluster, called Subaru in Japanese, and represent Fuji Heavy Industries and the five companies merged to form it in 1953.
What car has a lion logo?
Peugeot is the car brand with a lion logo. The lion was adopted in 1850 to mark the quality of the company’s steel saws and became Peugeot’s official mark in 1858, decades before the first Peugeot car. Since 2021 the brand has used a shield showing a lion’s head.
What car logo has three diamonds?
Mitsubishi uses the three-diamond logo. The name itself means “three diamonds” in Japanese, and the mark combines the stacked diamonds of founder Yataro Iwasaki’s family crest with the three oak leaves of the Tosa clan crest that his family served.
Is the BMW logo a propeller?
No, the BMW logo was not designed as a propeller. The roundel was registered in 1917 using the black ring of Rapp Motorenwerke and the colors of Bavaria. The propeller story began with a 1929 BMW advertisement that showed the logo inside a spinning propeller, and BMW’s own archive has since confirmed that the link came later.
