GM changes logo to reflect electric vehicle future

The biggest change of the company's corporate image since 1964 is part of an effort to burnish GM's future in electrified vehicles.

Detroit, Michigan – For the first time in more than 50 years, General Motors has radically redesigned its logo in an attempt to draw attention to its growing fleet of electric vehicles.

Unveiled Friday, the new image will begin appearing on the company’s website, and the new icon with lower-case letters will replace the block-lettered outgoing logo on buildings and letterheads throughout 2021.

“The goal is to change other signage throughout 2021, prioritized for how visible and public different places are,” GM spokesman Stuart Fowle said. “But then there are spots, like stampings on vehicle components, that will take longer. Everything digital and printed will happen in the next month or two.”

GM has made minor changes to the outgoing logo several times, but the white, block-lettered G and M on a blue field, with a white horizontal line running beneath, has been a mainstay since 1964. Moving to lower-case letters and shifting the horizontal line to running only under the m modernizes the look, designers said.

More importantly, though, the black space defined by the curves of the m and the horizontal line beneath it look a bit like an electric plug. The new logo is part of a massive marketing campaign from the automaker to draw attention to a rapidly expanding slate of electric vehicles (EVs).

“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,” said Deborah Wahl, GM global chief marketing officer. “Unlike ever before, we have the solutions, capability, technology, and scale to put everyone in an EV.”

GM plans to invest $27 billion in EV and autonomous vehicles (AVs) through 2025, launching 30 EVs within the next four years. The first of those will be the GMC Hummer EV pickup due out this year.