The car brands who have changed their logo in 2021

During 2020, a few of the world’s biggest and most well-known car brands decided to freshen up their logos for the new decade ahead. BMW, Volkswagen and Nissan all gave their looks a different yet familiar restyling last year, this year, a few more brands have joined suit.

For some car brands, changing their logo is a little less about fixing but rather reinventing themselves when it comes to updating a brand logo. The same way someone might colour or cut off their hair after a relationship ends or buy a new bag when starting a new job. It’s just cosmetic after all.

Here are the brands who have recently taken the cover off their new and improved looks.

While it was teased out during 2020, it was the start of 2021 that KIA officially showcased their new logo, branding and philosophy to the world. The new redesigned logo, first previewed by the Kia Imagine concept that was unveiled back in 2019 at the Geneva motor show, is part of a grand plan by the Korean car-maker to be considered both as being more aspirational by buyers while at the same time being a leader in new technology.

Replacing the old familiar oval logo, the new badge is also claimed to conjure up thoughts of "symmetry and rhythm". Another big change is dropping of the former 'The Power to Surprise' slogan, replacing it with a 'Movement that Inspires' motto.

"Kia’s new logo represents the company’s commitment to becoming an icon for change and innovation," said Kia’s president and CEO, Ho Sung Song.

In February, Peugeot revealed a new logo that's designed to pay tribute to its rich heritage and help shift the 210-year-old French car-maker more upmarket. Inspired by the lion with a flowing mane decal introduced back in 1960 on the Peugeot 404, the latest logo is a two-dimensional side profile of the lion's head on the familiar shied logo and is closely related to the emblem used on the well-received 2018 Peugeot e-Legend concept.

Set to be rolled out to all its dealerships, Peugeot says the rebranding exercise is likely to take two years to complete, with all sales channels using the new logo by 2023.

The other French car brand also decided to give their graphic designers a challenge to create a modern version of their diamond logo that also pays homage to its 122 years of car-making. Previewed earlier this year on the Renault 5 Prototype – the small retro-styled pure-electric hatch that's heading to production in 2025 – the simple new badge looks closest to the diamond logo that was introduced back in 1972 and only phased-out in 1992.

Since the French car-maker was founded in 1898, Renault has had just nine different logos. The basic 2D logo was chosen over the current 3D branding as it displays better in digital form, an essential part of Renault's current marketing strategy.

American automaker General Motors unveiled a new, brighter logo plus fresh 'Everybody In' slogan. Introduced as the first step towards reinventing itself as a car-maker that will deliver zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion.

Curiously, GM says the new logo is designed to "evoke the clean skies of a zero-emission future", while the logo and slogan are claimed to target a new generation of buyers, accelerate EV adoption and highlight the benefits of the US car-maker's all-new Ultium platform.

Despite being freshened up over the years, the new General's badge marks the first complete redesign of the familiar GM badge since 1964, with the blue background uppercase 'G' and 'M' branding being used for almost 57 years.

Volvo has joined the refreshed brandmark party late in 2021 with the refresh of its iconic 'iron mark' logo. The 2021 version drawing heavily on the simple 2D logo that was used back in the 1930s.

As per the examples above, Volvo's redesign is to help better display its brand in an online world and in a new electrified one too. It's been reported that Volvo will continue to use its 3D metallic chrome and blue logo on its cars and SUVs for at least another year, ahead of a switch to the new badge in 2023.

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