Author name: Car Logos

SEAT began in 1950 as Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo, built Fiats under licence and joined Volkswagen. Here is how its S emblem and colours changed.

Piaggio started in 1884 fitting out ships and went on to build the Vespa, the Ape and the Porter. Its hexagon logo turns two mirrored Ps into a winged insect.

Scania’s griffin comes from the 17th century coat of arms of Skåne, and the ring around it is a bicycle pedal crank first registered in 1901.

Saab began as an aircraft maker in 1937 and built its first production car in 1949. Its badge moved from aeroplane wings to a red crowned griffin inherited from Scania-Vabis.

RUF began in 1939 as a village garage in Pfaffenhausen, Bavaria. Its badge spells out the founder’s family name, and its most famous car is the Yellow Bird.

The Rolls-Royce badge is the founders’ initials, but the emblem everyone remembers is the Spirit of Ecstasy, registered in 1911 and reshaped for the electric Spectre in 2022.

REVA built small electric city cars in Bangalore from 2001, sold them in London as the G-Wiz and became Mahindra Reva in 2010.

Renault’s diamond began in the 1920s as a shape to suit the bonnet. Op art pioneer Victor Vasarely redrew it in 1972, and in 2021 it went flat with a nod to his lines.

Proton’s first badge borrowed the star and crescent of the Malaysian flag. Since 2000 a Malayan tiger has taken its place, and in 2019 it lost its shield.

A failed design contest, a request from importer Max Hoffman and a note in Ferry Porsche’s diary led to the 1952 crest, built from the arms of Stuttgart and Württemberg.