Lamborghini is a fabled Italian luxury sports vehicle manufacturer known around for the world for its outrageous styling, and trailblazing cars that stirred the soul and the loins of men everywhere. Right from the Miura, to the Diablo, to the Countach, Gallardo, and beyond, their cars are the stuff automotive wet dreams are made of.
And it was always meant to be so. When Ferruccio Lamborghini created the company in 1963, he aspired to compete with other luxury sports vehicle manufacturers, such as home-grown rival and counterpoint Ferrari. Over the years, Lamborghini has become a byword for luxury, speed, power, beauty, and status, and the Urus, the company’s first ever SUV, has been a runaways hit around the world.
But how did their iconic logo come to be?
A history of the Lamborghini logo
Ferruccio Lamborghini had a mental idea of how he wanted the emblem to appear and what it would represent. This was significant to him because it represented his brand’s values.
The logo is designed in the shape of a shield with a black backdrop and gold outlines. The word ‘Lamborghini’ is written in capital letters across the top of the shield, above a depiction of a bull. While the use of the firm name in the logo is self-explanatory, you might be wondering why a bull was chosen for the design and if the colour palette has any symbolic meaning.
The usage of a bull in the Lamborghini emblem serves two purposes. First, it is a representation of the business’ founder, who was born on April 28, 1916, in Romagna, Italy. This indicated that he was born under the Taurus zodiac sign, symbolised by a bull. In addition, the company’s founder had a passion for bullfighting and would attend bullfighting events on a regular basis. As a result, Ferruccio Lamborghini thought this was the ideal image to use as the emblem for his firm because it was a mirror of himself.
Second, the bull has powerful connotations, such as power, speed, dominance, and danger, and Ferruccio Lamborghini believed these would also be associated with the cars he was manufacturing.
Lamborghini’s logo isn’t the only place where the bull theme has been employed to channel Lamborghini’s bullishness. Many of the models produced by this company have names that are related to bulls in some way, such as legendary Spanish fighting bulls. Some examples of this are aforementioned Miura, Countach, Murcielago, Jarama, Veneno, Huracan, and more.
The logo’s colour scheme is also symbolic. The Lamborghini logo is made up of only two colours: black and various tones of gold. Black is a striking and distinctive colour that is frequently associated with power and authority. It also conjures up images of both elegance and simplicity. Ferruccio Lamborghini could have picked any colour to reflect his company’s luxury car production, but gold was the natural choice because gold is the colour most commonly associated with luxury.
The gold isn’t just one solid hue on the pattern; various tints are used to create a three-dimensional look. The shield is outlined in a darker gold with a paler gold line running through it. There are approximately four shades of gold on the bull design and these highlight the shape of the animal and the contours of its muscles. They also define the features of the bull, such as its horns, eyes, and flared nostrils.
When Ferruccio Lamborghini originally unveiled his Lamborghini emblem, it sparked debate, and he was criticized for it. This was due to the fact that the logos of Lamborghini and its competitor Ferrari were strikingly similar. Lamborghini was always open about his competition with the other vehicle brand, so this was not an accident. The shield shape of the logo, the use of gold and black, and the fact that both logos include an animal, though the Ferrari logo is a horse rather than a bull, are all similarities.
Despite the criticism, the logo has remained unchanged since the company was founded. This logo is now instantly recognizable to car enthusiasts and those who are fans of the luxury sports cars produced by Lamborghini.
