Filed under: China, Marketing/Advertising
Geely unveils new logo in Beijing
New Geely logo at left, Toyota on right for comparison
You can exhale now. We know you've been holding your breath waiting for this one. Zhejiang Geely Holding Group finally showed off its new Geely logo (above left) in Beijing a couple of days ago. it chose this new logo following a nearly year-long "global design contest" that used a combination of online voting and a panel of 66 "professional adjudicators."
Hailing it as "a significant milestone for Geely's brand building, but also the maturity of China's self-owned and corporate brands," Geely spokesperson Wang Ziliang said, "China's self-owned brands have come to realize the importance behind having the right auto brand and auto culture when trying to succeed overseas." Now they just have to work on innovative product that doesn't crumple like a beer can in barrier tests. Just kidding.
The logo you see at left above was picked as the best amongst the 27,336 entries submitted. To show how seriously this was taken by the rest of the world, a record was set when more than 100 countries participated, making it the most widely entered corporate logo design contest ever. At least that's what the release says. The winning logo was designed by Yue Xiande from Anhui province, and is clearly not a Toyota ripoff. "The Toyota logo has a whole 'nother ring in it," Geely spokespeople did not say. "While the Toyota is a soulless tin can, Geely has the top popped already, indicating it is much more fun," they did not add.
[Source: Geely] more pics:autoblog china.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
500 11:34AM (11/09/2007)
Looks like the hook on the tow truck with whose driver you'd better become friendly real fast.
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joe23521 11:38AM (11/09/2007)
I don't really see the Toyota resemblance, but from a design stand point, it is one hell of an ugly logo. I can't imagine what the other 27,335 entries looked like.
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Rick 3:51PM (11/09/2007)
I agree. Besides, it looks more like an inverted Inifinti logo then a Toyota logo. If you are going to claim copying, Ford had the oval before Toyota did.
The G looks like a clipped "&" symbol to me.
compy386 11:38AM (11/09/2007)
"We did twenty takes, and that was the best one."
- Monty Burns
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BLS 11:39AM (11/09/2007)
That reminds me of an infiniti logo more than toyota.
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shaggysatx 12:40PM (11/09/2007)
It looks alot like the old Mazda emblem that i believe was on the MX3 and Millenia.
http://www.mx-3.com/emblem/emb-92-96.jpg
Jerk Face 11:39AM (11/09/2007)
"The Toyota logo has a whole 'nother ring in it," Geely spokespeople did not say. "While the Toyota is a soulless tin can, Geely has the top popped already, indicating it is much more fun," they did not add. "
LOL
I see what you did there.
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GDUB 11:40AM (11/09/2007)
looks like someone shot the toyota logo with a shotgun slug.
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Gardiner Westbound 11:47AM (11/09/2007)
I have often thought the Hyundai and Honda logos are very similar.
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Dan 12:27PM (11/09/2007)
Hyundai's logo is simply toyota's logo + honda's logo.
jsjs 2:35PM (11/09/2007)
Hyundai's logo is no similar to Toyota than is Mazda's to Honda's.
And the reason why Hyundai's is "similar" to Honda is b/c they both utilize the letter H (otherwise, they are nothing alike).
Bob 11:49AM (11/09/2007)
The ultimate expression of design by committee. A collective, unfocused grunt followed by a lukewarm turd.
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saabyurk 11:50AM (11/09/2007)
Autoblog mimics sniffpetrol.com style. Not bad. :-)
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TriShield 11:56AM (11/09/2007)
Awful. There is a discussion about how much automakers from around the world are really giving the Chinese in regard to technology going on at TTAC right now.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/?p=6244
It's scary.
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naggs 1:30PM (11/09/2007)
yeah, pretty stupid
china is just going to throw all the other automakers out once they have given all their knowhow to their government owned chinese "partners"
_Jon 12:36PM (11/09/2007)
Actually, the basic outline is an oval. Kinda like another company...
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John P. 12:47PM (11/09/2007)
Terrible looking thing, probably designed by the grandson of some local communist party official with some pull in high places.
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iQuack 12:59PM (11/09/2007)
Geely logo looks like a mess to me. The Toyota logo, however is genius.
Note that the Toyota logo--when you look closely at it--has all of the letters "TOYOTA" in it. Some are curved, but the the letters are all there in a compact form.
When I first saw the Toyota logo, I could see how it brought forth the name of the company--brilliant!
The Geely thing might be a stylzed "G" but that's a stretch. To my eyes, it's a piece of crap.
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speedmaster 1:11PM (11/09/2007)
Yeah, but whover designed it won $200,000 USD.
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John P. 1:20PM (11/09/2007)
Yeah, the cash will go a long way towards erasing the life-long embarrassment of being the designer who came up with the thing.
Congrats to Yue Xiande!