The History of the Porsche Crest

The horse as a sign of strength is the focus. How could it be any different. The Porsche Crest provides material for many strange stories. But first things first. During a meeting of Ferry Porsche and the then US importer Max Hoffman in 1952 in New York City, Max Hoffman mentioned to Dr. Ing. Ferry Porsche that all the major car brands in the world have their own crest. “Why not Porsche, too?” he asked. Then Ferry, it is said, reached for a napkin and began drawing the first sketches of the crest. Ferry wanted it to be a seal of quality for the type 356. In the same year, Herrmann Lapper, who was responsible for advertising at the time, and the designer Franz Xaver Reimspieß presented a design that has only been changed in nuances to this day.

A fantasy creation, inspired by Württemberg-Hohenzollerns national coat of arms

Mr. Reimspieß is also considered to be the inventor of the Volkswagen (VW) logo. In 1938, his first sign had already been used as a postage stamp and was registered as a mark on May 18 of that year. For Porsche, he sketched a fantasy emblem that was to express the company’s roots as well as the quality and dynamics of its products: in the middle of the golden shield is the Stuttgart Rössle (horse) and the city name, surrounded by the red and black colors of the country and the antlers the coat of arms of Württemberg-Hohenzollern. As a protective roof, the Porsche lettering bulges. Compared to today’s crest the Porsche lettering was only coined and not additionally highlighted in black. In addition, the red coloring was much brighter, nearly orange – a reminiscence to the colors of Württemberg-Hohenzollern.

As you can see in the image above, the Porsche crest has been revised five times until today. For the introduction of the Porsche 901, or 911 respectively, in 1963, the first minor changes were applied. The most noticeable changes were made in 1994. Since then, Porsche’s letters are painted in black and therefore more highlighted. Afterwards, only very few updates were presented. All in all, Porsche knows their history like no other car maker…

Another revision for the Porsche Crest in 2023

For the brand’s 75th anniversary in 2023, Porsche decided to revise the crest once again. In a three-year process, designers from the Style Porsche department worked with marketing experts to further develop the legendary company logo. The iconic crest was carefully modernized with great attention to detail and will be introduced at the end of 2023. According to Style Porsche head Michael Mauer, a cleaner, modern look was the stated goal of the redesign.

“With its cleaner and more state-of-the-art execution, the refined crest communicates the character of Porsche. We have reinterpreted historical characteristics and combined them with innovative design elements such as a honeycomb structure and brushed metal. The result is an aesthetically ambitious arc that bridges the history and the future of the brand”

Michael Mauer, Vice President Style Porsche

Another key point was the alignment of 2D and 3D emblems. After all, it can be experienced not only on correspondence and printed matter, but also haptically on the vehicle. Robert Ader, Chief Marketing Officer at Porsche AG, also speaks of a general adjustment of the brand identity. “For this reason, the modernised crest became the occasion for us to rework our brand design. We will be using the crest in a more targeted way to underline emotional highlights. At the same time, the Porsche lettering will take on even greater significance.” says Porsche’s head of marketing.

Porsche’s crest could also have looked quite different

In the early 1960s, dealers, among others, were critical of Porsche’s emblem. After all, the ornate, multicolored emblem was also to adorn printed matter and letter paper. However, color printing as such was a complicated and, above all, expensive undertaking at the time.

“Not every print shop had suitable machines. And the production of the printing plates, the precise setting of the register marks so that in the end all the printing forms are exactly on top of each other and a graphic or a picture is reproduced sharply and without a slipped printing grid – all that was not exactly easy,” Thorsten Elbrigmann summarized the difficulties for Porsche Klassik.

Porsche’s sales management therefore commissioned advertising manager Hermann Lapper in the summer of 1961 to develop a new “company logo”. In December 1961, Lapper sent a folder with a cover letter and some drafts to the company management with the request “to study these proposals and to achieve a further narrowing by determining some sample sheets”.

With the T8 program, the Porsche crest should have been replaced according to the advertising manager

Sales and advertising management targeted a change in the company logo with the launch of the 356 successor. What later became the Porsche 911 was known internally as the “T8 program” at the time. According to Lapper, the Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen logos were considered as good examples. Advertisers and dealers did not find the Porsche crest modern enough in 1961.

The multicolor and the many details combined into a whole, do not allow a compact visual effect in road traffic.

Hermann Lapper

None of the designs ultimately prevailed

Lapper’s submitted designs were a complete counter-design to the original Porsche crest. They no longer had any reference to the Stuttgart city coat of arms and the horse did not appear in them either. Instead, the large P was placed at the center of the considerations. In addition to two round logos with a simple P, there were three combinations with reflections. Lapper envisioned red, white, black and brown as the colors.

Presumably, the decision-makers did not discuss the designs in any depth. For apart from a note returning the drawings to Lapper, there are no documents in the company archives. So it remains a matter of conjecture. “Presumably, the realization prevailed that the logo, which had been in use since 1952, was already too established to be able to change horses at a gallop,” Elbrichmann concluded. Instead, Porsche’s crest is still on every vehicle today – albeit in its sixth edition. At its core, however, it has always remained the unmistakable original.

Successful reproduction of the original Porsche Crest

The experts of Porsche Classic have succeeded in restoring and producing the original Porsche crest of 1954 color-true and true to material. To meet the very high quality requirements, the retro Porsche crest had to pass numerous tests. For example, a climate change test was conducted at the Porsche Research and Development Center in Weissach. All tests were passed. An authentic quality product, 100% “Made in Germany”. This means, you can get every single Porsche crest of the company’s rich history as a genuine new part at your local Porsche dealer.

Here is a video about the production process:

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Picture : Porsche AG