Does anyone know why the Skoda logo which appears on their brochures; letter headings, promotionals, advertising, showroom/dealer signs etc., etc., includes the wording " SKODA" on the top and "AUTO" on the bottom, yet on the car badging the "AUTO" on the bottom is replaced by what appears to me to be a crescent of laurel branches. No other car company does this, AFAIK. Anyone know the reason why?

The laurel leaves are kept over from L&K's original badge pre-merger, and the word Auto is only on the corporate trademark logo. I think this might be because historically Skoda were also involved in armaments among other things, and the word Auto creates distance from that.

I think it needs updating, made a bit more modern.

Changed from a more plain one with the release of the Felicia.

Used to look like this. I believe the Laurel wreath signified 100 years since the start of Skoda or something when the new logo was released in something like 1995?!

Some info here, although not the answer to the question!

?koda Auto - Logo

And here:

Cartype : Skoda

Edited 4 November, 200817 yr by scouter2

Thanks, guys. Loads of informative stuff.

I reckon the time has come to display the current corporate logo on car badging and ditch the laurel leaves. These are associated with ancient history and have no relevance in our modern high-tech world.

Incidentally, I can't think of another company, irrespective of the industry, that has TWO logo designs - one for corporate branding and another, albeit of similar design, for product. Why go to the bother. It's kinda weird, don't you think?

Whats wrong with history and heritage?

If you take a close look at the badges for Porsche and Maserati, you'll see that they're drenched with history and heritage - something that the more costly marques trade on. Even the Lancia badge had a visual reference to the old steering mounted throttle until very recently

Badges change and evolve all the time, often by quite subtle amounts - look at the fuss over the recent changes to the Vauxhall badge, and you can see that the tiniest differences can cause issues for companies. Given that Skoda still trades on the Laurin & Klement brand for high end trim, It's probably only right that they keep the laurel leaves from their badge in some capacity.

I quite like the badge. Some badges have remained the same for ages. VW, Audi, Saab and BMW aming a few. I think the Ford oval has remained unchanged for decades.

What changes have Vauxhall made to their badge?

Having some historical link to the car shows they still hold the founders values at heart and not just rebadging VWs to lob for sale.

Vauxhall have changed the gryphon five or six times in their history, with it becoming more simplified with each iteration, and the latest version is just a bit more chunky and stylised. They made a big fuss over it, and when it was released you could almost hear the world's press go 'oh...'

Interestingly, my Scout has both the "Laurel Leaf" and "Auto" versions of the badge!

Laurel leafs everywhere apart from the startup screen of the Columbus (RNS510) SatNav!

Personally I like the badge as it is and as said above I think it's good that car companies stay in touch with their heritage and values that the company was started on.

I don't think it looks dated or anything either.

The current badge is incorporating all the elements of the skoda brand and it's founders and works well.

But agee its weird that they feel the need to use a seperate one for their corporate branding.

Phil

The arrow on the earlier 1923 badge is clearly that , so why was it modified to become the famous flying penis ?

I like the modernised version that Skoda use on their concept cars:

http://www.skoda-auto.com/NR/rdonlyres/D4E1829F-8630-4DBD-B1B1-4DD92B8AA247/0/download2.jpg

I like the modernised version that Skoda use on their concept cars:

http://www.skoda-auto.com/NR/rdonlyres/D4E1829F-8630-4DBD-B1B1-4DD92B8AA247/0/download2.jpg

Ooooh... shiny!

Agree too.. that badge does look pretty sleek.

Anyone got the part number? Group buy anyone? :P

My badges have Auto on them

But I do like that new badge too ...