A B-Side BY Armin

Monza

Monza is a luxury car detailing and protection center in Dubai, taking in only expensive cars none of us can afford. The name comes from the race circuit and city in Italy. See the full project by Prague-based Higher to see how the race track element plays into the logo and for an extended range of applications.

A B-Side BY Armin

Bridgestone

Established in 1931 and based in Japan, Bridgestone manufactures tires for motorcycles, and passenger and commercial vehicles, among other tire and tube products. Earlier this month, Bridgestone announced a revision to its corporate philosophy as well as the Bridgestone Logo, Bridgestone Mark and B Mark. The press release explains: “This refinement is intended to reflect a sense of ‘coexistence with people around the world’, ‘flexible strength’ and ‘a sense of speedin adjusting to change’. This is an evolution from the previous logo which expresses ‘strength’ and ‘a sense of physical speed.’”

Thanks to Roy Levitt for first tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Chrysler’s Sucker Punch

Trying to rebound from bankruptcy and the beating it has taken from non-American car brands, Chrysler, now owned in part by Fiat, is attempting to bring back some attitude to the industry as well as some much needed love to the city of Detroit. During this year’s Superbowl XLV, Chrysler ran a two-minute commercial featuring lovely shots of the city while local boy wonder, Eminem, drove a Chrysler 200 to the riff of his hit “Lose Yourself” culminating in him pointing at your face and stating “This is the Motor City; this is what we do.” The ad served to introduce the tagline, “Imported from Detroit,” which now has its own logo. Both the commercial and logo were created by Wieden + Kennedy. Chrysler has just launched a collection of “Imported from Detroit” merchandise, and part of the profits go to four different charities: Boys and Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan, Habitat for Humanity Detroit, Marshall Mathers Foundation, and Think Detroit PAL.

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Opinion BY Armin

Dodge Loses its Horns

In November of last year, Fiat — which owns the majority of what was once Chrysler Group LLC, which itself owned Dodge — announced that it would be separating its line-up into two separate brands: One for the popular Dodge Ram trucks and the other for the normal-sized cars. The first brand is now simply known as Ram and has kept the original ram logo, leaving the second brand, Dodge, to look for a logo of its own.

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Opinion BY Armin

The Cat got Peugeot’s Tongue

It’s not everyday that we begin the critique of an identity prefaced by the accumulated equity of 200 years but… Peugeot was first established in the Montbeliard region in eastern France in 1810 by brothers Jean-Pierre and Jean-Frédérice as a steel foundry manufacturing a bevy of industrial products, from simple saw blades to coffee grinders. In 1885 another Peugeot family member first dabbled in wheeled locomotion by producing a bicycle, and four years later they introduced a steam-powered tricycle and by 1910, Peugeot was fully committed to the burgeoning automobile industry (see video at the end of post for this vast range of products). The rest, well, is history, as Peugeot has become one of the most well known and respected names in the automobile industry (and few names roll off the tongue as fancifully). Last week, among other news like concept cars and stuff, Peugeot unveiled an evolution of its lion identity — designed by Paris-based BETC Design — along with a new tag line, “Motion & Emotion”.

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Opinion BY Armin

Cadillac Switches Materials

Cadillac, maker of cars that I am willing to assume are out of our budget, has quietly introduced a revised version of its emblem, which has been evolving for more than hundred years old when it first appeared in 1906 as a depiction of the family coat of arms of the founder of Detroit in the early 1700s, Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, after whom the car company was named. Over the years — here you may find an interesting article about the previous redesign and a summary of all logos — the logo has evolved ever more minimal, dropping the ducks and crown from the original, arriving at a stealth-looking logo in 1999, the year of the last redesign.

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Opinion BY Armin

Audi’s Typographic Stylings

As part of its week-long centennial celebration that included news about the upcoming release of the S5 Quattro — which might mean something to autophiles, but not much to me — Audi unveiled an updated logo that gave a new shine to the four interlocked rings, from a matte finish to a more chromalicious one, and it switched out the quirky wordmark for a new bespoke corporate typeface.

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BY Armin

Citroën, Now with More Shine

I will start this by saying that I am not a car person, I haven’t owned one in more than eight years and beyond the obvious subjects, my appreciation of cars and their makers is limited. Given the amount of e-mails I received about the redesign of French manufacturer Citroën, I am going to assume that their cars and brand mean a lot to a lot of people.

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BY Armin

Badass Pony

I don’t know much about cars, or what makes a good car good, and I haven’t owned one in five years, but somehow I know that Ford Mustangs kick ass. Or at least they appear to. Regardless… as Ford prepares for the launch of the 2010 edition of the Mustang they have issued a press release for the redesign of the badge. Fitting somewhere between logo design and sculpture, this new pony comes with some of the most awesome (and I strangely mean this without sarcasm) press releasing: It’s just a faster-looking steed. → We lifted the head to make the pony more proud, tipped the neck into the wind to give it a feeling of greater speed and better balance. → It’s more chiseled and more defined and looks more like a wild horse. And indeed it is! It really looks like it could do even more ass kicking than the previous version. The differences are hard to discern so I quickly put this overlay together (yellow is the new badge). I love it when companies obsess over details to make a stronger visual, reminds me a little of Matthew Carter’s redrawing of the MoMA logo. Giddy up!

Thanks to Jason who already reported it on his blog for the tip.

BY Armin

April Fools: Can Ford Afford a Redesign?

Amidst concept cars, sneak previews, and other automotive-based pyrotechnics during the New York International Auto Show this past week, Ford Motor Company quietly deployed its new logo to attendees of the show and will roll out a full unveiling later this month. For an industry where identity is everything and decades of legacy can stall any possible change, it is surprising and commendable that Ford would drive away from its script, oval logo that has been around since 1912 and sustained few visual evolutions.

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