In early January of 2021, General Motors unveiled its latest corporate image. The new GM logo was approximately as simple as the previous one, but both letters are now written in lowercase, and only the ‘m’ is now underlined, to avoid having the line interfere with the tail of the ‘g’.
At the time, it wasn’t clear whether the new logo was a temporary or permanent measure, or whether it would be used only only in digital form, while physical locations would retain the uppercase version of the logo. And now, new developments suggest that this new, lowercase GM logo is in fact here to stay as a physical entity.
In fact, GM Authority has learned that the lowercase logo now appears on signage outside the Warren Tech Center in Warren, Michigan. It could already be seen at two other locations, but the display on the GM Renaissance Headquarters in Detroit is digital, and the GM Defense plant in North Carolina is brand new (and hence uses the new logo).
The significance of this newest appearance at the GM Warren Tech Center is that it has become the first existing GM facility to display a physical version of the new logo. It will be interesting to see whether – or how soon – that happens at other GM facilities, both in the United States and beyond.
The Warren Tech Center was designed by Finnish-born architect Eero Saarinen (1910-1961), whose other notable work includes the Washington Dulles International Airport, the TWA Flight Center in New York City and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.
Construction of the GM facility began in 1949, and the Center was ceremonially opened by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower in May of 1956. It was added to the National List of Historic Places in March of 2000, and designated as a National Historic Landmark in August of 2014.
In its present form, the Center consists of 38 buildings, 11 miles of road and two lakes (among many other features), while having enough space for 21,000 employees. It is the primary location for the development of GM technologies, powertrains and most vehicle systems and components. It is perhaps fitting that, of all the existing GM facilities around the world, this very special one is the first to switch from the old, physical GM logo to the new one.
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Comments
I know it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but that logo just looks kind of sad and pathetic.
Tastes vary, and there is no absolut judgement valid for all people in all times about taste.
Pathetic.
I agree Paul, lower case logo pathetic. Its now a lower class GM company.
At least they no longer use it on the cars so it really matters little.
Imagine how it would have looked like on Earnhardt’s Goodwrench hood. May as well have put a rainbow over it.
didnt jeff gordan have a rainbow on his car? Pretty sure he was respected…
I think gm changed their logo to show their lesser standing in the auto industry. They went from 1st in auto sales to 3rd in the world.
They went from #1 and going bankrupt to #3 and making money again.
Selling all the cars in the world means nothing with out a profit.
More like fourth or fifth now that Stellantis passed them up.
It is difficult to get valid sales statistics by manufacturer on world scale. The OICA seems to have given up on such statistics. On Carsalesbase I can’t find such statistics either.
No 1 is either Toyota (with Daihatsu) or the VW Group with its 12 brands.
No 3 or even higher can be either Hyundai group (incl Kia) or the Renault-Nissan-Alliance if one counts Renault, Dacia, Lada, Nissan and Mitsubishi as one or as two or three.
Counting this alliance as one, and considering the PSA-FCA merger, GM would be #5, including their Chinese joint-ventures.
The times they are a-changing, as Bob Dylan sung many decades ago. History never stops, evolution is permanent, and what goes up will go down.
While sales numbers are impressive for people being impressed by ranking lists, the owners of the automobile manufacturers prefer to make profit, and are rather ready to give up markets or models which are not profitable to their desires.
When should I start going to this website instead?gunderlinedmauthority .com
You can write GMAUTHORITY dot COM or gmauthority dot com, and arrive at this site.
While underlines are not allowed in a domain name, lower case or upper case do not matter.
May I remind you that in the previous version of the GM corporate logo, both letters were underlined?
General Motors has changed the visual appearance of its logo half a dozen times, I guess. And in all cases you would have three reactions to the change:
1st: “what a disgusting new visualisation!”
2nd: “wonderful! Why didn’t they adapt to modern times years before?”
and
3rd: , so what?
I’m in the third category. My life does not depend on how GM is presenting themselves visually.
GM has run from their heritage for the last 30 years. I guess this is the final nail in the coffin. They fff-ed up the cadillac division, dumped Pontiac, chevy is a joke, only thing chevy has the Silverado. Now going all electric, I guess THE MANGEMENT of GM won’t be happy until they are out of business, Ever notice Toyota has not proclaimed themselves as as a All Electric car company with a set date.
Its because they will be all electric by 2035. Kind of play with the ” e ” on future advertisement.
I have my doubts gm will be “all electric” by 2035. You can’t force a concept down peoples’ throats if they do not want it. Roger Smith was a master of this and we seen how that turned out.
Personally I think it has a very delicate, lightweight, feminine look. The old logo denoted strength and solidity and had a masculine feel. This is a kitchenware logo vs. the former having a power tools feel.
It also denotes the fall of gm from a once powerful colossus that devoured competitors and was the epitome of America’s industrial might to a shrunken, diminished enterprise that is perpetually behind its rivals. I liked the old company better but this logo sadly reflects what they’ve become.
Yet when I designed women’s razors, 80+ % of the women wanted to use men’s razors because they thought they would be better, or hated the feminine look! Good going GM, now the ladies will really hate your overpriced crap!
Exactly correct, lower case because they are lower tech. They finally got that right
It sucks!
In the males, Men, Boys, or 1/67000 gender bathrooms they ought to remove the urinals too. Only toilets. Teach all the men to sit down with their legs crossed just like the POTUS. That way this can help foster lowercase gm as a cotton soft environment.
The new logo reflects the lower standing and market share this pathetic company has become. It is really sickening to watch everything I grew up with and loved being slowly decimated and destroyed. But as long as Mary gets her fat paycheck and millions in bonuses and continues to smoke and mirror Wall Street that’s what counts right?