Car Manufacturer Logos

Ariel Motor Company

Ariel are famous for their lightweight track-day car, the Atom. These types of stripped out, fast cars are in the same market to what the Formula Student car aims to compete with. Ariel's logo is fairly simple, just a custom letter A, inversed as white in a red circle. The company name is displayed in a sans-serif font, achingly close to the font Arial. Quite crucially though, because is a one colour logo it works well in black for use across different media, such as cars (shown below).

Caterham

Caterham are also a lightweight sports car manufacturer. They have been around much longer than Ariel and have slightly more heritage. This comes through in their '7' logo which is an updated version of an old, colour logo. It feels more dated than the other logos, but not in bad way.

Caterham's logo for their R300 looks much more modern. It uses an italic typeface as well as a hand-rendered 'R' which you could argue hints at speed and a sense of dynamics.

Radical Sportscars

Radical is another company competing in the same market. Similar 'R' logo to the one used in the Caterham logo. Another simple logo that looks like a tab or label for clothing. It works in colour and I'm betting equally as good in one colour. I can see how a simple logo will work for a car company, as they will use it across different materials such as on the car body (metal), the car steering wheel (leather), seats (fabric), dashboard and switches (plastics) and for stationary and promotional material. This is something I should take into consideration when designing my logos.

Brawn GP

Brawn GP were a Formula 1 team that competed in the 2009 F1 season. As a new team, they had no old graphics to renew or history to preserve. They started from a fresh and this comes across in their graphics. It also shows on track as I believe Brawn had one of the nicest liveries of any of the teams.

(Image: Jose Mª Izquierdo Galiot)

The use of a yellow and black swoosh, along with semi-italic text/alternative ligatures ('A' & 'W') is very fitting for a motorsport company and not to mention it feels contemporary.

Force India

Force India are another relatively new F1 team. More use of italic type and coloured swooshes used to portray the Indian flag.

McLaren

McLaren are a car company specialising in high-end performance cars and motorsport. They have their own F1 team and have alot of racing heritage. Despite this their logo feels contemporary. Another simple logo with a black, white and red colour palette. More use of alternative ligatures in the 'M'. It feels like a company on the cutting edge of their game - which they are.