A mercenary soldier's hall gave a London district its name, and in 1915 an apprentice called Harry Varley borrowed the griffin from that soldier's coat of arms. Vauxhall has carried it ever since.
- Country
-
United Kingdom - Active
- Since 1857
- Founded by
- Alexander Wilson
- Website
- Official website ↗
A mercenary, a hall and a riverside works
The Vauxhall name is older than the motor car by several centuries. According to Vauxhall, it goes back to a mercenary soldier called Fulk le Breant, whose property on the south bank of the Thames became known as Fulk’s Hall. Over the years the name wore down into Vauxhall. The famous Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens opened on the same ground in 1661.
The company arrived much later. In 1857 a Scottish engineer, Alexander Wilson, founded the Vauxhall Iron Works there, a maker of marine engines that simply took its name from the district. Cars came in 1903. Two years later, in 1905, the business moved to Luton in Bedfordshire, and in 1907 the car side became Vauxhall Motors Limited.
Vauxhall did not stay independent for long. General Motors took over the company in 1925 and kept it for more than ninety years. In 2017 it passed to Groupe PSA, the owner of Peugeot and Citroen, and today it belongs to Stellantis. Its headquarters are still in Luton: since May 2019 at Chalton House, after nearly thirty years at a building called, naturally, Griffin House.
An apprentice wins the badge competition
Vauxhall adopted the griffin as its logo in 1915. The story, as the company tells it, is a nice one. Chief engineer and designer Laurence H. Pomeroy offered a prize for a new symbol. The brief asked for something heraldic. The winner was a young apprentice called Harry Varley.
Varley reached back to the man behind the name. His griffin, a mythical creature that is part eagle and part lion, was the one depicted on the coat of arms of Fulk le Breant, and he drew it driving a flag marked with a V into the ground. A badge for a car company, taken from a medieval soldier’s shield. It has outlasted every car it was fitted to.
What the griffin and the V flag stand for
Vauxhall’s own explanation is refreshingly plain. The griffin is the heraldic beast of Fulk le Breant, the man whose hall gave the district, and so the company, its name. The flag carries a V for Vauxhall. The company does not attach any deeper symbolism to the creature beyond its heraldic roots, so claims about what the eagle half or the lion half “means” for the cars are decoration, not Vauxhall’s words.
What has changed is the drawing. Vauxhall says that over the years the logo became progressively simpler and more graphic. The 2026 redesign was described by the company and the motoring press as the 13th generation of the emblem, so the griffin has been redrawn a dozen times since Varley’s drawing. Three recent versions matter most.
2008: the chrome griffin. A three-dimensional, metallic badge introduced with the original Insignia. It showed the griffin with its wing spread, the V flag in its claw and the Vauxhall name on the badge itself, all in a raised chrome finish. This is the badge most people picture when they think of the brand.
2020: the flat griffin. Shown in September 2020 and described by Vauxhall as a bold two-dimensional take on the griffin, it was created under Mark Adams, the British vice president of Vauxhall and Opel design. The wing went. The flag was simplified to a skewed square on the left holding a white V. The griffin itself was coloured bright red and the Vauxhall wordmark beneath it deep blue, a pairing the company said underlined its heritage as a British brand since 1903. The reason for going flat was digital: the raised chrome look did not work well on screens. It first appeared on the bonnets of the Mokka and Crossland, and the company’s managing director Stephen Norman said the redesign reinforced Vauxhall’s position as a “confidently British brand”.
2026: the griffin without a flag. On 30 September 2026 Vauxhall revealed a streamlined griffin, and for the first time since 1915 the V flag was gone. The beak is closed, the neck feathers are simplified and the outline is more angular than the 2020 version. It was drawn to be illuminated, sitting lit up in the Vizor front panel of the latest models. Mark Adams said the company wanted to “retain its essential elements while streamlining it for the next generation of electrified vehicles”, adding that the simpler design “makes it clearer and easier to identify”. It made its public debut on the STX Concept at the Paris Motor Show in October 2026, with the roll-out to future production cars and retailers to follow over the coming years.
Red beast, blue name
The 2008 badge was all metal: a three-dimensional griffin in a chrome-style finish. The 2020 redesign changed that completely. The griffin became a solid bright red and the wordmark beneath it a deep blue. Vauxhall’s only stated reason for the pairing was its British heritage. Sources describing the 2026 emblem talk about its shape and its lighting rather than its colour, so this page does not guess at the finish you will see on the road.
The cars that carried the griffin
Vauxhall has spent most of its life building everyday British cars and trucks, and the griffin has ridden on everything from army staff cars to small hatchbacks. Many of them were built at the Kimpton Road plant in Luton, and a collection of them survives in the company’s Heritage Centre in the same town.
Landmark Vauxhalls, decade by decade
- 1903: the first Vauxhall. The marine engine maker from the south bank of the Thames built its first car in 1903, two years before the move to Luton.
- 1918: D-type Staff Car. In Vauxhall’s words, it helped mobilise the British Army during the First World War.
- 1930: 2-ton truck. The vehicle Vauxhall’s heritage arm lists as the start of its Bedford commercial range.
- 1963: Viva. Vauxhall marked 55 years of the Viva in 2018, which places the first one in 1963.
- 1993: Corsa. The small car Vauxhall called its best-seller when it turned 25 in 2018, and the one that got a special Griffin edition named after the badge.
- 2008: Insignia. The first car to wear the chrome three-dimensional griffin.
- 2020: Mokka. The first Vauxhall with the flat red griffin and the Vizor front, which folds grille, headlights and badge into one panel.
Vauxhall’s closest relative is its German sister brand Opel. The two share a design vice president, Mark Adams, and both went from General Motors to Groupe PSA in 2017 and on into Stellantis. For a look at how badges like the griffin are drawn and redrawn, see how car logos are designed.
Frequently asked questions
What is the animal on the Vauxhall logo?
A griffin, a mythical creature with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. According to Vauxhall it was taken from the coat of arms of Fulk le Breant, the medieval soldier whose property, Fulk’s Hall, gave the Vauxhall district its name.
Who designed the Vauxhall griffin?
A young apprentice called Harry Varley. In 1915 chief engineer Laurence Pomeroy offered a prize for a heraldic company symbol, and Varley’s griffin driving a V flag into the ground won it.
Why did Vauxhall remove the flag from its logo?
The 2026 griffin was streamlined for the next generation of electrified cars and designed to be illuminated. Vauxhall’s design vice president Mark Adams said the simpler design makes it clearer and easier to identify. It is the first version since 1915 without the V flag.
Why is the Vauxhall logo red?
The bright red griffin and deep blue wordmark arrived with the flat 2020 redesign. Vauxhall said the pairing underlined its heritage as a British brand since 1903.
Is Vauxhall the same as Opel?
They are sister brands. Vauxhall is the British name and badge, Opel the German one, and both now belong to Stellantis after Groupe PSA bought them from General Motors in 2017.
Fulk's Hall to Luton: the griffin on record
- Founded
- 1857
- Founder
- Alexander Wilson
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Headquarters
- Luton, United Kingdom
- Parent company
- Stellantis
- Current emblem
- A streamlined griffin without the V flag, the 13th version of the badge, revealed in September 2026 and designed to be illuminated
- Known for
- Everyday British cars such as the Viva, Astra and Corsa, built in Luton and Ellesmere Port
- Website
- Official website ↗
