On 27 December 1951 Ferry Porsche jotted a note after a dinner in New York: decorate the steering wheel with 'Porsche' and the Stuttgart crest. A year later, the crest was on the car.
- Country
-
Germany - Active
- Since 1931
- Founded by
- Ferdinand Porsche
- Website
- Official website ↗
An engineering office in Kronenstrasse
Porsche began as a name on a door, not on a bonnet. In 1931, in the middle of the global economic crisis, Ferdinand Porsche opened his engineering office at Kronenstrasse 24 in Stuttgart. In 1938 it moved into its own building in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, the site that became Porsche Werk 1.
The war pushed the company out of Germany for a while. In 1944 it moved to Gmünd in Carinthia, Austria, and that is where the first car to wear the family name was born. On 8 June 1948 the 356 “No. 1” Roadster appeared, the sports car his son Ferry Porsche had dreamed of. In 1950 Porsche returned to Zuffenhausen and started series production of the 356.
Lettering, a failed contest and a dinner in New York
For its first few years, Porsche had no crest at all. The cars carried the name in simple lettering. Porsche tells a legend about the 356 “No. 1”: for its first race win, at the Hofgarten road race in Innsbruck, an apprentice is said to have cut its aluminium letters with a jigsaw.
In 1951 a design competition was meant to produce a proper logo. None of the entries was good enough. The idea came back at the end of that year, at a business dinner in New York, where the American importer Max Hoffman asked Ferry Porsche for a logo. Ferry wrote it down in his notebook on 27 December: “Steering wheel rim decorated with ‘Porsche’ and the Stuttgart crest or similar.”
Back in Stuttgart, the work moved inside the company. In early 1952 Franz Xaver Reimspiess drew what Porsche calls a “fantasy crest”. Porsche’s own articles add that he reportedly designed the Volkswagen logo in 1936, although that attribution is disputed.
A horse, a city and a set of antlers
Every part of the crest points home. At the centre, inside a golden shield, is the rearing horse from the seal of the city of Stuttgart. Porsche explains that the city’s name itself refers to horse breeding, a “stud garden”. The word Stuttgart sits above the horse, linking the brand to the city where its cars are built.
Around it are the red and black stripes and the stylised deer antlers of the traditional crest of Württemberg-Hohenzollern. The Porsche name arches over the top of everything like a roof. Porsche says the whole design was meant to express the company’s roots and the quality and dynamism of its products.
The crest has been protected as a trademark since 1952. It first appeared on the horn button of the steering wheel at the end of that year, right on the steering wheel where Ferry had pictured it. In November 1954 it moved into the bonnet handle of the 356 Speedster, and from 1959 it was on the hubcaps too. Since then, every Porsche has carried it on the bonnet.
Too busy for traffic? The 1961 rebellion
Not everyone loved it. In 1961 Porsche’s sales managers and dealers complained that the crest had too many colours and details to read clearly in traffic. They held up the Mercedes star and the VW logo as better examples. The commercial artist Hanns Lohrer, who made many Porsche posters and adverts in the 1950s and 1960s, drew alternatives, some built around the letter P. Porsche itself calls a few of them strange, even disconcerting. Nothing came of them. The drawings went back to the archive, and the crest stayed.
It hasn’t stood still, though. Porsche lists updates in 1954, 1963, 1973, 1994 and 2008. The early 911 crest had a strong red-orange tone, while the 1994 version brought slim black letters for the Porsche name and a more elegantly drawn horse.
Gold, red, black and a honeycomb
The colours are borrowed, not invented. The gold frames the Stuttgart horse, and the red and black come straight from the state colours of Württemberg-Hohenzollern.
The latest version came with the 75th anniversary of Porsche sports cars in 2023. Designers at Style Porsche worked with the marketing team on it for three years. The result has a brushed precious metal finish, a three-dimensional honeycomb structure, a refreshed horse and a more subtle shade of gold. It started appearing on cars at the end of 2023. Porsche also said it would use the crest more selectively from then on, with the Porsche lettering taking on a bigger role.
From Gmünd to the electric age
The crest arrived four years after the first Porsche, so it has watched almost the whole story unfold from the bonnet.
Landmark Porsches, decade by decade
- 1948: 356 “No. 1” Roadster. The first car under the Porsche name, which appeared on 8 June 1948.
- 1963: 901. The successor to the 356, renamed 911 before series production began in 1964.
- 1970: 917. The 917 Short-Tail Coupé, driven by Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood, gave Porsche its first overall win at Le Mans.
- 1985: 959. Shown at the IAA in Frankfurt.
- 2002: Cayenne. Porsche’s SUV was presented in the same year its Leipzig plant opened.
- 2019: Taycan. Porsche’s first all-electric model, built in Zuffenhausen.
Porsche and Volkswagen go back a long way. In 1969 they set up a joint sales company for the 914, which they had developed together, and today Volkswagen AG is a major shareholder in Porsche AG. That makes Porsche a sister brand of Audi, Lamborghini and Bentley. And if you’re comparing horses, the Ferrari prancing horse has a completely separate story. For more on how emblems like these are built, see how car logos are designed.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Porsche logo mean?
It is a tribute to home. The horse comes from the seal of Stuttgart, the city’s name sits above it, and the red and black stripes and deer antlers come from the crest of Württemberg-Hohenzollern. The Porsche name arches over the top.
Who designed the Porsche crest?
According to Porsche, Franz Xaver Reimspiess drew it in early 1952. The idea came from a late 1951 dinner in New York, where the importer Max Hoffman asked Ferry Porsche for a logo.
When did the crest first appear on a Porsche?
At the end of 1952, on the horn button of the steering wheel. It moved to the bonnet handle of the 356 Speedster in November 1954 and onto the hubcaps from 1959.
What changed in the 2023 Porsche crest?
Style Porsche gave it a brushed precious metal finish, a three-dimensional honeycomb structure, a refreshed horse and a more subtle gold. It started appearing on cars at the end of 2023.
Kronenstrasse to Zuffenhausen: the stud garden ledger
- Founded
- 1931
- Founder
- Ferdinand Porsche
- Country
- Germany
- Headquarters
- Stuttgart, Germany
- Parent company
- Volkswagen Group
- Current emblem
- The Stuttgart horse on a gold shield with Württemberg antlers and red and black stripes, last modernised in 2023
- Known for
- The 356, the 911 and the 917
- Website
- Official website ↗
