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The Porsche Coat of Arms

The Porsche logo is as famous as the marque itself. Emblazoned on the front of modern day Porsches, all but a cursory glance is needed to recognise the Porsche logo. However, in the early years of the companies history, Porsche were completely without an emblem.

In 1950 Porsche set it's sights on the United States of America to sell its cars, and turned to the importer, Max Hoffman, to bring their Porsche 356 coupe it the country. Two years later, after the successful introduction of Porsche into the US via California, Dr. Porsche met with Hoffman in a coffee shop. It was there in the coffee shop, that Dr. Porsche sketched out the the blueprint of what would become the Porsche logo - the Stuttgart coat of arms combined with the Wurtemburg coat of arms with the lettering 'Porsche' taking pride position at the top of the logo design. The logo was sketched out on nothing more than a simple napkin!nd so ever since 1952, every Porsche has been duly adorned with this powerful and striking logo.

In creating a design for the Porsche logo, the possible variations were countless, but the resulting company emblem was intended both to refer to their location in Stuttgart and to have a dynamic, powerful image.

After numerous drafts designs, a crest was finally created that has long since become the company's trademark. The emblem was created out of elements from the history of Wurttemberg-Baden, as the political region was still called at that time, stylised antlers and the state colours which were red and black. This was intended as a clear commitment to Swabia, the Porsche family's second home.

The center of the crest denotes a black horse rear up on it's hind legs, which serves an expression of both forward thrusting power and a derivation of the city seal. For Stuttgart, established as the stud farm of 'stuotgarten', has had horses in its coat of arms in varying designs since as early as the 14th century. By combining the steed and the word 'Stuttgart', Porsche were expressing a clear passion and affinity for their local town. The crest has the outer contours shaped as a shield, while the word Porsche as the overarching signature takes pride of place at the top of the design.

So after completing the emblem designs in 1952, the Porsche 356 was the first car that wore the new Porsche emblem. Not on the bonnet as we see it today, but on the horn in the middle of the steering wheel. By the end of 1955, the new crest was also emblazoned on the bonnet of the 356, integrated into the handle. Even though today the the handle no longer exists on modern incarnations of the Porsche, the crest on the bonnet has remained. Also from 1959, the wheel center caps also featured the new crest.

The Porsche Coat of Arms design has remained true to its original designs and is almost identical today as it was back in 1952. Only subtle changes have been made to the lettering. Aside from that, the Coat of Arms has remained unchanged for 50 years, and hopefully will stay the same for the foreseeable future.

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By: Fuchsy

Date: 15-12-13

Rated: 0

A great little article. I never knew there was so much behind the design of the Porsche logo. One thing is for sure - it's a badge that everyone recognises. Even is the word Porsche was removed everyone would know what it symbolised.

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