Luxury Automotive Logo Design: Simple and Traditional

Luxury car manufacturers design logos to convey a strong brand image and personality as part of their efforts to attract a very specific and desirable customer.

European and luxury car companies rely more heavily on this branding than they do on price. Usually, their logos and branding are designed to convey luxury, high-performance, top-quality engineering and dependability, along with a generous helping of snob appeal.

It Takes An Entire Country To Market A Luxury European Car

Europeans have long been known for their quality workmanship, and the pride they take in both their country and their products. That's why the logos of many European car manufacturers have "graphic roots" in the country, province or city where the auto is built.

BMW, for example, relies on the strong German reputation for quality engineering. The brand name BMW stands for Bavarian Motor Works. The blue and white colors in the logo are the national colors of Bavaria, where the autos are built. Interestingly, the graphic elements inside the circle represent airplane propellers, and the company's heritage of building engines for airplanes during the Second World War.

Porsche's logo also has regional German design roots. The logo's crest containing a horse and antlers is based on the coat of arms Stutgart in Baden-Wurtemberg Germany, where the cars are manufactured. Porsche and its logo have become synonymous with both luxury and German high-performance.

Peugeot 's logo with its distinctive lion is based on the emblem of the city of Belfort in France, where the first Peugeot was built. Swedish car maker SAAB, originally an aviation and defense manufacturing company, incorporates into their logo design the mythological bird that's also the symbol of the province of Skane, where SAAB is located.

Italian car manufacturer Alpha Romeo uses a logo with graphic elements including heraldic images dating back to 5th Century Milan. Logos of other auto makers throughout Europe also strongly reflect nationalistic pride and the quality workmanship associated with that country.

Animal Magnetism Impacts Automotive Logo Design Too

Jaguar, the British luxury sports car, took it's name and logo from the jaguar, one of the fastest animals in the world. Their logo conveys sleekness and speed ... qualities extremely attractive in a sports car.

Simple and Literal Logo Design

Volkswagen and Rolls Royce have very well known logos whose meanings and origins are quite simplistic.

Volkswagen's logo is a graphic representation of a "V" and a "W" in a circle. The "v" stands for Volks meaning "people" in German. The "W" is for wagen which translates into "car". The "people's car" is literally what Volkswagen was intended to be.

The Rolls Royce logo is simply two "R"s representing Rolls and Royce, the name of the two founders of the company. Using family names of the founders of a business has been a well-established tradition thoughout the United Kingdom for generations.

Car logo design is a fascinating topic. For additional information, check out

http://www.neatorama.com/2008/02/18/evolution-of-car-logos/, http://www.ridelust.com and http://www.dinesh.com/history_of_logos.