Porsche was considering replacing its logo with one of these designs

Posted on July 19, 2023
General
Porsche was considering replacing its logo with one of these designs

The Porsche crest is one of the most recognizable logos in the world, and Porsche at one point considered replacing it.

Porsche researched its archives and discovered some of the alternative designs that had been considered throughout its history.

The Crest logo was created in 1952, by which time Porsche's first sports car, the 356, had already been in production for four years and used simple block lettering spelling out the Porsche name for identification.

At the request of Dr. Ottmar Domnick, an early admirer, and Max Hoffmann, later to become a well-known U.S. importer, in early 1952 Porsche commissioned the designer of the current Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz logos, Franz The company commissioned Franz Xaver Riemspies, the designer of the current Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz logos, to create a logo for the company. It was Ferry Porsche, son of Porsche founder Ferdinand Porsche, who sought inspiration from the Stuttgart city seal. The seal depicts the black prancing horse that Porsche uses on its coat of arms. The antlers are derived from the coat of arms of the former German state of Württemberg-Hohenzollern, part of Baden-Württemberg, which is now the state capital of Stuttgart.

Porsche also added gold as a mark of triumph, a color and graphic combination that was difficult to print on sales literature at the time. Many dealers were also unhappy with the design, so much so that in 1961 they wrote to Hermann Rapper, Porsche's advertising director, complaining that the logo was too complicated to recognize immediately. They wanted a simpler design like Volkswagen's VW or Mercedes-Benz's three-pointed star.

So Porsche hired Hans Rohrer, a commercial artist who had done many influential posters and advertisements for Porsche in the 1950s and 1960s, to create a new logo for the 911, which would debut in 1963 as the 901. These new designs, unveiled for the first time, feature Bauhaus influences and the letter P as the main motif

. However, the logo has been revised many times over the years: in 1954, 1963, 1973, 1994, 2008, and most recently in 2023. Restorers of older Porsches can always find the earlier design badge through the Porsche Classics department.

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