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The Story Behind Chevrolet Logo - Meaning And History

Chevrolet

Chevrolet is a renowned car manufacturing company that was founded in Detroit, 1911 by Louis Chevrolet and William C. Durant. Today, Chevrolet is a global car brand with annual sales of about 4.25 million automobiles in more than 120 countries around the world.

The company is known for its fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver great performance, high quality, value, and beautiful design. The Chevrolet portfolio includes iconic performance cars, such as the Corvette and the Camaro, award-winning passenger cars such as the Malibu, the Spark, the Cruze and the Equinox.

The Chevrolet logo is simple, but it's considered as one of the most popular car logos which holds immense importance in the corporate world. The iconic bowtie logo was first introduced in 1913 by Chevrolet's co-founder William C. Durant.

According to the Chevrolet story, Durant was inspired by a wallpaper he saw in a Parisian hotel in 1908. He saw the bowtie as a design on wallpaper in a hotel. Durant liked the design and tore off a piece of the wallpaper with the thought that it would make a good car badge.

Yet, his family members disapproved of this theory and his daughter Margery published the book entitled "My Father" in 1929. In the book, she states that her father used to doodle nameplate designs on small pieces of paper at the dinner table. According to her story, Durant's inspiration for the Chevrolet logo comes from a sketch he drew while having a family dinner.

However, another theory suggests that the famous design is actually a stylized version of the cross of the Swiss flag. Louis Chevrolet, the founder of the renowned company was born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, so he might have taken a dash of inspiration from the Swiss flag to design his own emblem. Whichever origin is true, the bowtie became the definitive Chevrolet logo and today is one of the most recognizable car emblems in the world.

The iconic Chevrolet symbol was introduced in 1914 and has never left the brand's cars since then. The logo contributed immensely in the advertising and promotion of the company. Over the years, the bowtie has undergone a few subtle changes and variations in coloring and detail, but the essential shape has never changed. The logo's shape has remained intact over the decades, giving the idea of tradition, consistency and recognizable image to the customers. The gold bowtie logo features two wide stripes, overlapping each other in the shape of a cross and serves as the brand identity for all Chevrolet car models, trucks, crossovers, and SUVs.