A car agency’s badge is probably going one of the crucial essential picks it’ll make. Producers like Audi, with its 4 rings, or Mercedes, have saved their badge designs for a few years as some extent of customized and legacy, whereas others have modified them further cases than we are going to keep in mind. Dodge’s historic previous of logos is an prolonged one given that agency’s inception throughout the early 1900s. Now, the latest Dodge Durango has a emblem that seems nothing like the symbol on the very first Dodge Model 30.
On this text we’ll be diving into the century-long historic previous of the mannequin’s emblem, from the beginning all the best way through which to the present change in outlook for the company – an all-electric future.
The First Ever Logos Represented Solidarity
Symbols With Substance
John and Horace Dodge primarily based the Dodge Brothers Agency in 1900 in Detroit, shortly making a repute for itself as a supplier of vehicles elements and manufacturing. The official Dodge emblem once more then was made up of two triangles, one black and one white, with interlocked ‘D’ and ‘B’ letters to characterize the Dodge brothers atop a map of the world. As the company had started to make their very personal vehicles in 1914, with the Dodge Model 30-35, the symbol featured a black ring with ‘Dodge Brothers Motor Agency’ encircled spherical it, and customarily even wings.
Whereas this can doubtless seem to be the Star Of David, the Dodge Brothers had no hyperlinks to Judaism of their lifetimes. This emblem was used even after the deaths of John and Horace throughout the early Nineteen Twenties, along with the dropping of ‘Brothers’ from the company determine, sooner than Dodge’s distinctive emblem was slowly phased out throughout the late 30s.
The Leaping Ram Makes An Look
Attempting One factor New
In 1932, a leaping ram was part of Dodge’s emblem evolution. This hood ornament first featured your complete animal throughout the Thirties and was present on all Dodge vehicles, sooner than it was used completely on Dodge vans throughout the Forties and ’50s. Slowly, the symbol was shortened and streamlined until merely the well-known head and horns remained. It was phased out in 1954 sooner than making a comeback on some Dodge vans throughout the Eighties.
Dodge Family Crest
Nothing Says Legacy Pretty Like It
In 1941, Dodge would introduce a shield-shaped crest that was typically referred to as the Dodge family crest. This design featured horizontal traces of alternating colors and a vertical line with the letter ‘O’ throughout the heart. A knight’s head was moreover part of the outer design, although this was dropped in 1955.
The traces and crest would keep on some Dodge vehicles for some years afterwards, until 1957. Dodge then launched it once more on the 1976 Dodge Aspen, sooner than being modified by the Pentastar (further on that later) in 1982.
A Forward-Going via Emblem For A New Interval
New Palms On The Design Wheel
Dodge was going by means of a metamorphosis – known as Forward Look – throughout the 1955 model 12 months, spearheaded by legendary automotive designer Virgil Exner. This Dodge picture consisted of two chevrons of assorted angles intertwined to create the feeling of forward motion. This was a time when automobiles grew to grow to be further cheap and accessible in post-war America, so Dodge wanted to point how trendy it was.
The model was moreover used on Chrysler vehicles from 1955, nonetheless resulting from Dodge’s sturdy selling value vary (it had borrowed over $2.5 billion from Prudential to finance their transformation), it grew to grow to be synonymous with Dodge, being featured on ignition keys and decorative trims. It was formally retired in 1962.
The Emblem With A Meaningless Determine
Prolonged-Lasting, Nonetheless Leaving No Impression
Three arrowheads come collectively in a triangle to form a three-pointed star throughout the Fratzog emblem of 1962. This Dodge emblem was known as this determine for no motive apart from a designer had randomly thought of it and it caught. Though it’s one in every of many longest-lived logos throughout the agency’s historic previous, that features on vehicles all the best way through which until 1981, it had no precise significance and, in distinction to the forward-looking emblem of the 50s, it didn’t even have a which means.
It was first launched on the 1962 Polara 500. Dodge has now started to utilize the long-lasting emblem as soon as extra in its electrifying half, nonetheless further on that afterward.
Pentastar: Not Solely For Dodge
A Lack Of Originality
Dodge logos appeared to return thick and fast, and the company used a variation of the Pentastar for some years until its standardization in 1981. The model is made up of a pentagon with a five-sided star throughout the heart, due to this fact the determine Pentastar. In Dodge’s case, the symbol was pink, nonetheless Chrysler-Plymouth vehicles used an related badge in blue until 1995, when the symbol was dropped solely.
The Ram’s Head Returns
Developed For Stylish Situations
As Dodge started to distinguish its truck line as Ram vehicles throughout the mid-90s, the symbol was modified to a Ram’s head, very like the hood ornament of the 40s. This emblem was first seen on the vans, sooner than every Dodge automotive used it solely. The one exception was the Dodge Viper, which used a Viper’s head as its emblem. That’s probably in all probability essentially the most recognizable of all Dodge logos, because it’s nonetheless used on Ram vans.
Racing Heritage In Stripes
A Totally Utterly completely different Id
Dodge and Ram lower up into two companies in 2010, and it was decided that Ram would proceed with the Ram’s head emblem. Dodge subsequently wished a model new emblem, and it chosen to simplify with DODGE written out in shiny silver metal with two pink stripes behind the last word letter. These stripes had been meant to characterize the mannequin’s motorsport heritage, primarily in American sequence.
On automobiles from 2010, the Dodge emblem animal shouldn’t be present, and the company is solely represented by their determine and a cross in a crest kind. The typographical picture is supposed for promoting features solely, nonetheless has made its methodology over to automobiles such as a result of the Charger and Durango.
Dodge’s Current Emblem Represents A New Interval With A Properly-known Design
Return Of A Conventional With A Bit Additional Mannequin
A 2021 teaser for the latest electrical Dodge muscle car featured the 1962 Fratzog emblem, ushering in a model new second for the company. It formally debuted afterward in 2025 with the model new Dodge Charger Daytona, the company’s first all-electric effectivity car. It has been modified barely with a transparent background and a pink coloration for the picture.
Dodge’s All-electric Muscle Automotive
| Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack Effectivity Specs | |
|---|---|
| Engine | Twin Motors |
| Transmission | 1-speed Electrical Drive |
| Drivetrain | All-wheel Drive |
| Power | 670 hp |
| Torque | 627 lb-ft |
| 0-60 | 3.3 seconds |
| Prime Tempo | 135 mph |
Dodge calls its Charger Daytona ‘the world’s solely electrical muscle car’, and we’re not shocked. Taking away the V8 and together with {an electrical} powertrain is a assured switch, significantly when not all people has subscribed to the idea of silent battery-powered automobiles. The Charger Daytona was praised by journalists upon launch for its design, effectivity and ease of use, nonetheless this didn’t flip into product sales, with Dodge solely shifting 1,947 gadgets throughout the first three months of 2025.
It packs 670 horsepower in Scat Pack form going by means of an AWD powertrain. It’ll probably launch itself to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds, although we felt it was further of a GT in our evaluation. Dodge now hopes to rebuild after its product sales stoop with a four-door mannequin that’s coming shortly.
Dodge’s Properly-known Slogans
A Catchy Phrase Usually Sticks Longer
Since we’re talking about Dodge emblem historic previous, we would as properly check out its slogans too. The company has had pretty just some since its founding, nonetheless listed under are a number of of our favorites:
- Dependability, The Dependables (1920-1967)
- You Could Be Dodge Supplies (1970-1971)
- Seize Life By The Horns (2001-2007)
- Residence. Not Domesticated. (2016-Present)
- Tear up the streets…not the planet (2021-present)
Completely different Properly-known Dodge Logos
The Viper
Dodge Vipers have been the final phrase halo automobiles since their inception in 1992. Instead of using a Dodge emblem and animal or Dodge typography, that’s the one model to utilize a Viper snake. It has had three fully completely different variations, all of which convey a approach of aggression and had been impressed by the Shelby Cobra. The Viper was discontinued in 2017, nonetheless the symbol stays an essential part of its legacy.
SRT
Highway and Racing Experience (SRT) is the high-performance division of Dodge (and one other related producers like Jeep or Chrysler) and has been used since 1989 sooner than its offical rebrand to SRT in 2004. It originates throughout the ‘Workforce Viper’ group, which was tasked with creating the distinctive Dodge Viper and is now used to characterize extremely efficient variations of ordinary automobiles. The Dodge Viper was briefly renamed the SRT Viper to promote the mannequin.
Sources: Dodge