How well do you know your car’s badge?

DO YOU know why there’s a snake eating a man on the Alfa Romeo badge, or what the big difference is between Mercedes and Mitsubishi? Here are 10 manufacturers with a surprising subtext behind their logo.

AUDI

Audi’s four interlocking rings date back to the origin of the company when it joined forces with three other brands in 1932 – DKW, Horch, and Wanderer – to create Auto Union. Each ring represents an arm of that company.

HYUNDAI

Glance at it and Hyundai’s logo looks simply like an italicised H. However, it’s intended to symbolise two people shaking hands and making a deal – not the easiest thing to spot!

BMW

BMW’s logo is commonly said to represent a spinning aircraft propeller but this dates to a 1929 TV ad. The truth is the blue and white represent the colours of the Bavarian Free State. At the time of its design, it was illegal to use national symbols in a trademark so the order was reversed.

MITSUBISHI

Mitsubishi’s deceptively simple three-pointed emblem is actually the combination of two family crests – Yamauchi and Iwasaki. The name also derives from these: ‘Mitsu’, which means three, represents the three oak leaves of the Yamauchi family crest, while ‘bishi’ means water chestnut, as well as rhombus.

ALFA ROMEO

The Alfa emblem features a red cross on its left – the symbol of Milan – and on the right, a snake ‘eating’ a man. It’s the symbol of the 13th century Milanese Visconti family and legends surround its origins with some dating it to the Crusades when Ottone Visconti is reported to have slain a Saracen noble and adopted his coat of arms. The Mercedes, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Mitsubishi logos are all familiar . . . but what do they mean?

FERRARI

The prancing horse emblem first appeared on the plane of WWI pilot Francesco Baracca. Baracca’s mother told Enzo Ferrari using the horse would bring good luck. The yellow background represents the brand’s Modena hometown.

ROLLS-ROYCE

The original Spirit of Ecstasy is thought to be actress Eleanor Thornton, who modelled for a sculpture called ‘The Whisperer’. When Lord Montagu of Beaulieu requested a custom logo, this was the inspiration, and it soon became a star on all cars.

PORSCHE

Porsche’s logo is fairly simple: the amalgamation of two coats of arms. It takes elements from the Free State of Wurttemberg in Western Germany as well as its former capital, Stuttgart.

MERCEDES

The three-pointed star was created to embody the firm’s desire to establish motorised mastery of the land, sea, and air. Yes, from the off, the marque planned for world domination.

SUBARU

Subaru’s six stars represent the Seven Sisters constellation, also known as Pleiades, and called ‘subaru’ in Japanese. They also represent the six companies merged to form Subaru’s parent, Fuji Heavy Industries.