The first change for the French automaker since 2010

2021 is the year that automakers are changing logos, ostensibly to make them seem more relevant in a world of advancing technologies.

First there was Kia. It had its name spelled out with a font with awkwardly sized letter stems housed in an oval. It truly appeared as though it was something that would be affixed to a product in the Dollar Store rather than on some of the best-designed vehicles on the market. The new one is a digitally driven design with the sort of typographic flow that one would associate with advanced technology.

General Motors was not to be outdone (although arguably it was by Kia’s design), revealing a new badge that went from uppercase letters with a horizontal bar beneath them reversed out of a square blue background to two lowercase letters with the horizontal bar underlining over the “m” in a rounded square box (squircle?). While the previous badge was simply a statement of acryomic identity, the new version is meant to signify the electric future, as the shape of the “m” combined with the bar beneath it resembles an electric plug.

Now Peugeot has made a change its logo. It is worth noting that Peugeot, which is 210 years old, first used a lion as part of its logo since 1847, so there is something to be said for consistency. (The original logo was used on steel products the company produced; it didn’t appear on a car until 1948, on a Peugeot 203.)

The new logo, designed by Peugeot Design Lab, a wholly owned operation within what is now part of Stellantis that designs everything from pepper mills to scooters, features a lion’s head within a badge form, with the name “Peugeot” in all caps, slightly curved to echo the curve at the top of the shield.

According to Matthias Hossann, Peugeot Design Director, “With over two centuries of history, Peugeot is a pioneer of mobility and a legendary brand for automobiles and bicycles. This emblem and this new brand identity are a link between our history and our vision for the future. This logo has been conceived, designed and developed in-house with the same stringent requirements that we apply to every detail of our vehicles: the quality of materials, the quality of execution and the quality of the finish.”

Although Peugeot is in the process, like seemingly all automakers, electrifying everything, notably this new logo doesn’t stress that change through some sort of potentially hokey maneuver like making the lion’s mane consist of lightning bolts.

More relevant to the purpose of a logo—to be widely seen and identified with a brand—is that the design team specifically worked on developing the marque such that it is optimized for digital use.

After all, where do you see more logos than in digital spaces nowadays?