Friday GM unveiled the first wholesale change to the company’s iconic logo since 1964. It did not go well. Unfortunately, buyers of the brands most profitable vehicles, trucks and SUVs, were furious with the change.
The company, who is in the middle of a major pivot to electric vehicles, intended the updated logo to mark a new day in the future of General Motors the company and GM’s product line. It didn’t end up that way.
Designers, enthusiasts, and owners responded swiftly and with a fervor unlike any other article GM-Trucks.com has published in the past. The reaction has been negative and overwhelmingly expressed concern about the company’s future.
Here’s a small snippet of how owners of General Motors most profitable products reacted to the change:
“Ewww…”
“Excellent, looks like another social media app logo”
“Seeing at how most people decide on their favorite brand based on the logo, id say thats a poor decision lol”
“Who are they being subservient to? The lower case letters give the impression of being second class, not in charge. Not a fan”
“Like I just said in another post, it looks like the goodwill logo and the same person that designed the front end of the new HD’s probably did this crap! They need to be fired. Why would anyone lower case this? That’s like downgrading to be less important.”
“Usually proper nouns or things of respect are capitalized?”
“Garbage”
“Stupid, why the dumbass lower case letters”
“Some pimple poppin’ dickhead fresh out of school designed it, no doubt.”
“Upper case means a name or that it’s important. This loses both”
“They can’t leave anything alone, WHY does it have to change??? STUPIDITY”
“I like the old better.”
“It looks like they made it in Microsoft word.”
“Oh okay, I guess GM is owned by Adobe now”
“Companies who are in Financial trouble have changed their brand in the past. Probably a sign”
“……….might be looking at ford next time. Never thought i would ever say that in my lifetime.”
“This is horrendous”
“Yuck”
“What the hell has happened to GM? Their future is DOOMED if they keep this shit up”
…..and the comments go on and on and on. This is only a small selection of the overwhelmingly negative response.
The Automotive Media Agrees
- GM’s New Logo Looks Straight Out of Late 1990s WordArt – TheDrive
- GM Unveils New Logo, We’re Perplexed -TheTruthAboutCars
General Motors Describes The New Logo
“The new GM logo features a color gradient of vibrant blue tones, evoking the clean skies of a zero-emissions future and the energy of the Ultium platform. The rounded edges and lower-case font create a more modern, inclusive feel. The underline of the “m” connects to the previous GM logos as well as visually representing the Ultium platform. And within the negative space of the “m” is a nod to the shape of an electrical plug.”
Our Take On GM’s New Logo
General Motors has been on a roll over the past 12 months. From helping medical professionals with ventilators during a pandemic to strongly pivoting to electric vehicles like the HUMMER EV. The company is in flux, perhaps at its most defining moment in decades.
Silverado, Sierra, Tahoe, Suburban & Yukon buyers who are already scared that their much loved gasoline engines are about to be ripped from their hands now feel like the company they knew, they grew up with, has quietly disappeared overnight. The macho, strong, uppercase blue logo they’ve all known and trusted for their entire lives is gone.
After a year of strong choices and important new product messaging, the company has made a serious misstep. You don’t isolate your customers. You don’t change what they love. As someone wise once said; “You don’t fix what isn’t broken”.
And GM’s venerable, recognizable, and trusted logo wasn’t broken. Perhaps GM should ask Ford when it’s appropriate to wholesale change a historical logo.
