Consider this as your essential guide to the high-end, famous and luxury car logos. This article features some of the most iconic brand names when it comes to luxury cars, the memorable ones that are known to define an era and still act as a strong symbol of status, wealth and one’s pride in the society.
Having one of these brands outside your house would sure get your envy eyes and lead the on-lookers to be aspirational. Now it’s not just the car design or its use, but also the brand’s features – the brand identity and symbols that are emblazoned onto the car offering the owner a great sense of accomplishment and pride in their exclusive ride. For not many can own such a luxurious model of vehicle that comes with a strong line of history and are infamous to be owned by biggest celebrities and social and political figures across the globe.
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In this article, let’s take a walk down the lane of luxury and vintage car logos of all time that are simply unforgettable and hold a strong recall value. These logos take us through some ultra-luxury to sports luxe car brands:
Rolls-Royce
Talk about the quintessential automotive elegance and ultra-fine luxury.
What first started in 1904 by British manufacturers has become over a century old brand of reputation and prestige. The logo of overlapping R’s is designed in a sleek serif typography style, in a font used by the brands for over a century to reflect its classical appeal along with a strong dose of professionalism. The two Rs represent the partnerships of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce.
The logo is completed by the mindfully designed brand symbol known as ‘The Spirit of Ecstasy’ which is placed on the bonnet as an ornament sculpture. This symbol is a woman leaning forward with her arms outstretched behind and above her.
BMW
Founded in 1916 in Germany, BMW’s logo brings back the roots of its origin. The focus is on the Bavarian history where it comes from, and its colours (white and blue) are inspired by the Bavarian flag that is mindfully done to bring attention to the lasting heritage of the brand. The typography is kept simple with a sans-serif font and capital letter for impact.
The brand has been consistent with the main elements of the logo for years, like the circle as its primary shape and using the Bavarian flag colours for its centre.
Bentley
Infamous for its strikingly beautiful cars and SUVs, Bentley is a well-known British brand that is now owned by the Volkswagen group.
Its logo is a symbol that defines speed and freedom. The winged design represents an upward momentum and is a strong indicator of opportunity. The wings in their logo design are a small representation of the brand’s previous association with the airline industry. This black and white logo also has used hints of silver – all colours that represent sophistication, luxury and classic style.
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Maybach
It is impossible to not mention Maybach when we talk of famous luxury car logos. Originally established in 1909, this brand is part of the overall Mercedes-Benz company.
Its logo is essentially the name of the brand that comes from its founder Wilhelm Maybach. Its double M iconic monogram stands for Maybach Motorenbau. The colours are gold, black and yellow lines with a bold typography use – all together which make it a highly memorable choice for a luxury car brand.
Bugatti
Established in 1909, slightly similar timeline to some other iconic car manufacturers and brands across EU, Bugatti is a French automotive brand most famous for its high-performance cars.
The Bugatti logo is a strong reference to its heritage and the original creator. Its images have studded red circles around the border, which are often compared to the gem’s rubies and wisely so since the makers were prior in the business of jewellery. The logo has a passionate red background with an EB symbol at the top to represent the founder’s name.
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Tesla
With its first launch in 2003, Tesla in a small fraction of time has gained a lot of attention. It is known to be a choice of many famous and highly successful businessmen today who prefer high-end electric vehicles.
This young automotive company’s logo appears to be a simple T, however, holds more weight to it than that. The brand claims that design to be a look like of a cross-section of the electric motors and is designed by Nikola Tesla.
Porsche
Porsche was launched in 1931 in Germany and is another strong example of a logo in the vehicles sector that represents heritage and history of the where the brand was founded. The brand is no doubt one of the better-known brands globally and is more commonly known for its luxurious sports cars and SUVs.
The logo is inspired from the Free People State of Wuttemberg and has in its design the coat of arms in shape of a crest further highlights the history of the company. The Porsche logo also integrates into its design the Stuttgart coat of arms placed within the centre of the crest of its logo. With gold, black, and red colours – the brand stays true to representing its place of origin.
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Mercedes-Benz
Launched in 1926, this is a famous German brand that has been able to garner the eyeballs from a global audience and become a household name for leading businessmen and entrepreneurs seeking premium and luxury cars, Mercedes in German means – Happy. Which itself should give an interesting insight into the brand’s vision.
The logo features a 3-pointed star that as per the brand signifies the brands vision for universal motorization. They also represent the sea, air, and land – areas the brand wants to dominate. The silver + black colouring offers the audience sophistication, simplicity, and classic features as brands focus.
Lamborghini
Owned by the Volkswagen group, Lamborghini is class apart. Established in Italy in 1963, the brand has taken the world by a storm with its unique design, features, and personality that it brings with the car.
The logo is unlike another one, it uses animal symbols (not a common practice for luxury car brands) – like the golden bull for its mascot that essentially highlights and represents the notion of strength, dominance, clear vision and precision. To amplify this message, it further uses black and gold colour palette.
Ferrari
Established in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari, this brand has one of the most eye-catching emblems. Ferrari also makes use of an animal symbol in their logo unlike the many other luxury and ultra-luxury cars.
The logo features bright yellow colours in the background followed by an image of a prancing horse which is assumed to be chosen as a good luck charm for the brand. The colours include green, red and white stripes on top of the logo and bring attention to the brand’s Italian heritage.
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List of the luxury brands in the automotive industry with iconic logos continues with brands like Audi, Cadillac, Aston-Martin, Jaguar amongst others. Within the luxury car logos, you are sure to find a ton of inspiration for how a strong brand identity is essential to the brand. The automotive world also offers great insights into the excellent thought that was put behind each logo to make them memorable and have a strong recall, some lasting centuries.
