GM Unveils New Logo, We're Perplexed

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

It’s new logo week! First, Kia, now GM.

And we’re batting two for two on the perplexion scale.

All this follows Nissan’s recent logo change.

GM is making the change to showcase its new focus on electrification.

“There are moments in history when everything changes. Inflection points. We believe such a point is upon us for the mass adoption of electric vehicles,” Deborah Wahl, GM’s global chief marketing officer, said in a statement. “Unlike ever before, we have the solutions, capability and scale to put everyone in an EV. Our new brand identity and campaign are designed to reflect this.”

It’s all part of a campaign called “Everybody In” that will showcase GM’s electrification plans, including the Ultium battery.

“’Everybody In’ demonstrates our intent to lead, while inviting others — policymakers, partners, individuals — to play an active role in moving society forward, whether that’s helping to expand infrastructure, advocating for progress in their communities or simply taking an EV for a test drive to learn about the benefits of EV ownership,” Wahl said in the statement.

GM does have big electrification plans, despite having just one EV – the Chevrolet Bolt – currently on sale. We know about the Hummer, a planned “utility” version of the Bolt, and the upcoming Cadillac Lyriq. Rumor has it that GM will reveal more plans around electrification at CES this week.

As for the logo itself, it’s part of a marketing campaign that involves well-known names like author Malcolm Gladwell surfer/shark-attack survivor Bethany Hamilton.

The company’s Web site is set to be redesigned, with the new version launching Monday.

According to Automotive News, the logo is “vibrant blue” to show that the skies of the future will be clearer due to zero emissions. The font is now lowercase, and the edges are rounded off. The “m” remains underlined to represent an electrical plug.

GM considers this logo less severe, more human, and more approachable than the current one.

We just think it doesn’t look as good.

[Image: GM]

Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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  • Ponchoman49 Ponchoman49 on Jan 12, 2021

    As our country falls so does GM and the start of Malaise era II. This is just another piece of evidence of that!

    • Sgeffe Sgeffe on Jan 14, 2021

      I’ve been saying that the first Mailaise Era started with conditions like now. The end will be amorphous pods, with car ownership lost to the dustbin of history.

  • Jamezsmith Jamezsmith on Oct 26, 2021

    The new logo fades from light blue to darker blue and displays the GM letters in lowercase type, is intended to evoke "the clean skies of a zero-emissions future and the energy of the Ultium [battery] platform," GM said

  • ToolGuy 9 miles a day for 20 years. You didn't drive it, why should I? 😉
  • Brian Uchida Laguna Seca, corkscrew, (drying track off in rental car prior to Superbike test session), at speed - turn 9 big Willow Springs racing a motorcycle,- at greater speed (but riding shotgun) - The Carrousel at Sears Point in a 1981 PA9 Osella 2 litre FIA racer with Eddie Lawson at the wheel! (apologies for not being brief!)
  • Mister It wasn't helped any by the horrible fuel economy for what it was... something like 22mpg city, iirc.
  • Lorenzo I shop for all-season tires that have good wet and dry pavement grip and use them year-round. Nothing works on black ice, and I stopped driving in snow long ago - I'll wait until the streets and highways are plowed, when all-seasons are good enough. After all, I don't live in Canada or deep in the snow zone.
  • FormerFF I’m in Atlanta. The summers go on in April and come off in October. I have a Cayman that stays on summer tires year round and gets driven on winter days when the temperature gets above 45 F and it’s dry, which is usually at least once a week.
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