The Evolution of the Dodge Logo

If you’re a car fanatic and a car enthusiast, then you might also be a fan of Dodge cars, you may know about their famous trucks as well. You may have heard of their interesting story, their very rich and long history, and how the company evolved as a vehicle company based in America. It’s always entertaining to know the historical background of a company, who the founders were, how it all started, what major events happened in between timelines, and a lot more details. Here, we will understand how Fiat Chrysler acquired this company, and what changes he did to make it as it is today.

Rich Historical Background of Dodge

By the name of the brand itself, it’s pretty much common to guess that the word “Dodge” is a name. Car companies have always branded themselves by a founder’s name. This is no exemption for Dodge as well. Dodge was founded by brothers Horace Elgin Dodge and John Francis Dodge in the early 1900s. They started with the Dodge Brothers Company machine shop, which supplies and sold automobile spare parts. However in 1914, it started manufacturing its own vehicles under the brand, “Dodge Brothers.” Fast forward, after the death of the two brothers in 1920, the company was sold to Chrysler in 1928.

Multiple changes of Ownership of the Dodge brand

Dodge had been through a lot of ups and downs. It also had undergone a lot of ownership over the years. From 1998 to 2009, there were too many things that happened in between. Too many acquisitions and merging, and some are short-lived like the merging of Dodge and Daimler-Benz AG. It was then sold to Cerberus Capital Management. By 2009, the United States Government bailed it out after a bankruptcy, which was later then acquired back again by Fiat Chrysler. It was a circus, for a lack of a better word.

Another eventful happening in the Dodge Company was that their model sub-brands were separated and became individual brands, leaving Dodge Viper the SRT product and Dodge Ram became standalone. However, the SRT finally merged back together with Dodge in 2014. Later that year, the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles was formed through the merging of the Fiat S.P.A.

The Dodge logos

Dodge actually used a lot of logos in the past. Depending on car models and styles, their logos have also differed. Performance vehicles, passenger cars, and trucks all have different emblems instilled in their vehicle’s grills. While Dodge logos started changing, they are always depending on their different cars and vehicles launched in the market. Let us take a look at some of them.

The Six-pointed star

Horace and John Dodge used a small enamel badge as the Dodge logo for their cars. It is designed as a small circle with two interlocking triangles that form six-pointed stars in the middle of the circle. And there was a written DB in the middle of those six-pointed stars. The circle also has a wording which was the “Dodge Brothers Motor Vehicles”, and they were placed on the interior side of the circle. Some people may have perceived it as a Jewish symbol but the brothers are actually not Jewish.

Ram

The Dodge Company used a leaping ram model in their car’s hood in 1932. However, by 1951 they replaced the leaping ram into just the head of the ram. This logo and ornament was adopted only until 1940 and was used in their car models only until 1950.

Crest

Overlapping the ram ornament last used in 1950, by 1941, Dodge started using a crest that is portrayed to represent the Dodge family crest. It was depicted with four horizontal bars and a letter “O” in the center. The horizontal lines were also separated in the middle with a vertical bar. To top it off, a knight’s head is placed on the top of this emblem. This dodge logo was used through 1957, and was then reused until the year 1981, and in 1982 it was replaced by the Pentastar.

Forward Look

After the crest came to an end in 1957, Virgil Exner contributed one of the Dodge logos which was called the Forward Look emblem. It is presented by two overlapping boomerang shapes. It was supposed to represent an idea of moving forward just like the direction that it shows. The development of rocket propulsion technology played a big part in this logo design.

Fratzog

It’s an interesting shape that is formed by three arrow shapes which are pointing inward to create a three-sided star. The word Fratzog though is as meaningless as it is. It literally doesn’t mean anything and was designed by the designer of this logo Dodge hired. This Dodge logo was used up until the year 1981.

Pentastar

This logo lasted for a decade at least. Dodge started using this logo which was similar to Chrysler’s Pentastar logo as well. The only difference between them is that Dodge’s logo was red, and Chrysler’s was blue.

Ram’s head

They used the ram head ornament in the 1973 Dodge Bighorn heavy-duty tractors. And after that, they also used it even for their pick-up trucks. This became the standard logo of Dodge for all its vehicles except Dodge Viper which uses the viper’s head as the ornament.

The Dodge logo up to date

After Ram became an individual brand and launched their Ram Trucks in 2009, the Dodge logo had to be changed as they could no longer use the ram as their emblem. The newest and modern Dodge logo now has several shades of silver and red colors. The wording “Dodge” is written in a modern font style and the colors of the font are silver. The silver color portrays grandeur and sophistication. The logo is also finished with two inclined stripes on the right side which are in red color. These red stripes symbolize passion, energy, and action. It portrays what Dodge has more to offer in the future. This logo was launched in May 2010 and is still currently used until now.

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