When you see a three pointed star on the bonnet of a car you know that it is a Mercedes you are looking at. Similarly, you know what do the logos of other car makers look like. But did you know some of these logos have a history and tell a story in their own special way. Lets take a look at some of the famous car logos with a history and a deeper meaning than just giving the car maker an identity.
Mercedes Benz
The most popular and quickly recognized logo of all is the three pointed star of Mercedes, which stands for the company's domination of land, sea, and air.
Also, Mercedes is a Spanish girl's name meaning 'grace'. An Austrian businessman, Emil Jellinek had a daughter with the same name in 1889. Jellinek raced faster and more powerful vehicles made by DMG, in 1899, under his pseudonym Mercedes. Earlier the name referred to only the team and driver and had nothing to do with an automotive brand. The current Mercedes is a result of the merger of two car companies, Daimler-Motored-Gesellschaft or DMG, founded by Gottlieb Daimler with Wilhelm Maybach, and Benz & Cie, founded by Karl Benz.
Audi
A German engineer August Horch founded A. Horch & Cie in 1899. A decade later, he was forced out of his own company and forced to look for a new name. At a meeting with his business partner Franz Fikentscher, whose son was studying Latin in a corner of the room. Finally, Franz's son said 'Audiatur et altera pars' that translates to wouldn't it be a good idea to call it Audi instead of Horch? The word Horch stands for hark in German, which means listen and Audi is Latin for listen. Later in 1932, Audi, Horch, DKW, and Wanderer merged to form Auto Union and the four ringed logo of Audi came into being that proudly graces Audi's bonnet till date.
BMW
Another interesting logo is that of BMW, which used to manufacture military airplane engines in the World War. The logo represents a spinning white propeller blade against the blue sky. The story goes like this: BMW was a major supplier of airplane engines and airplanes such as the Red Baron to the German government. But the Treaty of Versailles forbade Germany to manufacture airplanes and BMW had no option but to change its business. The company first forayed into making railway brakes before making motorized bicycle, motorcycles and cars.
Chevrolet
Even the 'bowtie' of Chevrolet, which is creating waves in the country with its latest products, also has something to say. There are actually two theories regarding Chevy's logo. The first one says that founder William C. Durant was inspired by wallpaper in a French hotel and tore a piece of that wallpaper to use it to design a logo. But his wife has a second story that says that the bowtie emblem came from a Virginia newspaper on a vacation around 1912.
Ferrari
The coveted Italian car maker Ferrari's prancing horse Cavallino Rampante was originally the emblem of Italian WWII flying ace Fancesco Baracca. When Enzo Ferrari started his own car company, he continued the use of this logo having been earlier persuaded by Baracca's parents to use the symbol of their late son for his Alfa Romeo race cars. Well, the Cavallino Rampante has defiantly graced more than just Ferrari vehicles and can be found pasted on bikes, t-shirts and almost everywhere one can imagine!
Fiat
Next on the list is car maker Fiat. The company's design lead Mario Maioli sketched what he saw while driving past the factory at night during a power outage. The spaces between the letters of the old scrabble tiles Fiat logo represent the light he could see between the letters of the large neon sign against the fading sky. The logo has been redesigned now.
Source: Goarticles
No comments:
Post a Comment