Car manufacturers spend megabucks and countless hours developing and protecting their logos. These are symbols of worldwide recognition, technological prowess, and brand identity. In 2006, Ford Motor Company even pledged its blue oval logo as collateral towards a $23.5 billion loan package that saved the company from bankruptcy. These company logos—and individual model logos such as the Mustang Shelby and Dodge Viper—have immense value.
The folks at leasefetcher.co.uk noted that 56 automakers use an animal in their logos and suggest an interesting rebranding opportunity—creating baby animal versions of these iconic logos for use on children’s ride-on vehicles. The absurd idea is both smile-inducing and intriguing. Let’s explore a few examples of these ludicrous logos.
The Lamborghini Bull
Lamborghini’s logo features a golden bull on a solid black background bordered in gold. A solid bull projects an image of power, performance, speed, and robustness. You can easily equate a snorting bull with the full-throated exhaust sound of an accelerating Lambo. The baby bull logo causes a smirk and thoughts of veal piccata (veal comes from a bull calf, not a baby cow).
The Ferrari Prancing Stallion
The Museum of Italian Brands reports that Ferrari’s prancing horse logo dates back to the 17th century when the Duke of Savoy used a stallion as a symbol for his troops. The organization adds that inspiration for Ferrari’s logo may have come from two competing World War I origin stories.
The first involves Enzo Ferrari adopting the horse symbol used by Italian fighter ace Francesco Baracca on his bi-plane for good luck. A second theory suggests that Baracca’s horse icon was painted on his plane’s fuselage following his victory over an enemy pilot from Stuttgart, a city whose heraldic symbol is a black stallion. While a whimsical colt logo would be hard to imagine on an SF90 Stradale, it could look right at home on a bright pink Ferrari pedal car.
The Galloping Mustang
No horse logo discussion would be complete without including the Ford Mustang. Despite initial ideas that Ford’s new sports car would be called Cougar when it was launched in the 1960s, the company chose the Mustang name instead. Interestingly, 27-year-old designer Phillip Thomas Clark had just joined Ford from GM when he was tasked with creating the Mustang logo—an assignment that took 100 days. It’s hard to imagine a Ford sports car without the Mustang name or its iconic logo. The baby horse icon pictured is perhaps best suited for My Little Pony toys than on the original pony car.
The Leaping Jaguar
Fortunately, Jaguar’s original name, the Swallow Sidecar Company, didn’t stick. A sleek, elegant car with a bird icon just wouldn’t be the same. Following a 1931 merger with Standard Motor Company, the business began using the SS brand—a bad connotation during World War II. The Jaguar name and “Leaper” symbol were launched following the company’s 1945 rebranding. There’s no doubt that the rendered baby jaguar logo is cute, but this cub might be best suited for a company called Happy Cat Motors or something similar.
Last but not least, while we’ll skip a discussion about Dodge’s Ram emblem, it would be fun to wonder what a baby Hellcat logo might look like.
Sources: leasefetcher.co.uk, carlogos.org, Museum of Italian Brands