An emblem for a car is like a surname for a person. It provides him with individuality and recognition among various brands and models. This, in turn, has led to the emergence of an innumerable number of logos, emblems, and signs that facilitate the identification and separate the products of car manufacturers from each other. One of these types of markings is a trident – a universal and especially attractive sign, which contributed to its use in a wide variety of cultures and civilizations. This element has historically been a formidable-edged weapon, which becomes especially dangerous in the hands of trained fighters. It was one of the elements of the equipment of Roman gladiators. Its properties and reliability have become those characteristics that people have assessed as the most significant in ensuring security, endowing their gods with such weapons. In Greek (Roman) mythology, the trident belongs to Neptune’s god of water, seas, and oceans (Poseidon). It symbolizes strength and vigor with a deep hidden meaning in any mythology. At the same time, it provides multiple abilities to its owner and multiplies his strength, which makes him more effective than a single-edged blade. This was especially effectively used in the attributes of automotive products of the global automotive industry as a symbol that raises the prestige and significance of its brand. At the same time, the trident is a reflection of courage and masculinity, a demonstration of truly masculine traits traditionally inherent in motorists.
Today, this symbol can be found in cars of the world’s leading manufacturers. The logos are presented in various versions, representing images of a trident, both close to the original and stylized versions. The latter most often demonstrate rare interpretations or graphic treatments that most closely correspond to the brand’s essence. Considering the peculiarities and significance of such a symbol, which imposes a serious responsibility on its owner, the number of brands using the trident is not so great. However, those who have assumed such responsibility are fully consistent with the qualitative characteristics of this symbol.
Maserati
The Italian car brand Maserati, founded in 1914 by Alfieri Maserati in Bologna, was one of the first car manufacturers to use the trident symbol in its paraphernalia. The company is currently headquartered in Modena. The logo was designed by the brother of the founder, Mario, based on a suggestion from a family friend, the Marquis Diego de Sterlich. He relied not only on the mythological characteristics of the emblem, its strength, and the features of real weapons. The fountain, which is a symbol of the native city, in the center of which is the figure of Neptune, with a trident in his hands, played a big role in the choice of the logo. Today, this logo has gained worldwide fame and has become a symbol of Italian beauty and elegance in the automotive industry.
Tesla
Among the modern representatives of the global automotive industry, the logo of a stylized trident is used by the American company Tesla, an American manufacturer of electric vehicles, founded in 2003. Its creators are Martin Eberhard, Mark Tarpenning and Ilona Maska. The company’s office is located in Palo Alto, Santa Clara, California, USA. The trident image used has too short left and right edges, which causes difficulties in visual perception of the graphic element as a trident. The symbol has a unique property – the possibility of its visual perception and, as a stylized image of the letter T – the first letter of the brand name. Also, its graphic design resembles a schematic representation of the electric motor sector.
W Motors
The relatively young Arab-Lebanese automotive company W Motors was founded in 2012 in Dubai, UAE. Its founder, Ralph Debbas, sought to implement his high-performance luxury sports cars ideas. The brand became the first developer of cars of this class in the country. To display its products’ special properties and characteristics, the brand has chosen an original and attractive emblem, which is a display of the trident symbol in its imaginative graphic design. Technically, graphics provided an abstract representation of the symbol. Its right and left edges are pointed, and the central one is rounded. This execution was conceived to form a unique brand visualization, its attractiveness, and ease of remembering.
Brilliance Auto Group
The original execution of the trident symbol was demonstrated by the largest Chinese company Brilliance Auto Group, founded in 1992 in China: Shenyang, Liaoning. As a united holding for the production of minibusses, passenger sedans, and special equipment of various types, the brand occupies a leading position in this type of industry in the country. He expressed his ambitions and product features by using a stylized image of a trident combined with a lyre sign as a logo. Such an interpretation of the classical symbolism ensured the formation of a new look at the semantic meaning of the logo.
