Image: Wiki Commons by The Car Spy / Wiki Commons by Alexandre Prévot / Wiki Commons by The Car Spy
About This Quiz
The car industry in America has been a massive force for over a century, so it's easy to forget that they weren't the innovators in auto manufacturing. Some European companies date all the way back to Napoléon's empire, even if they weren't making cars the entire time. Others have truly innovated both design and technology in the industry. Who can forget the VW Bug or the Mini — two of the most popular tiny cars in history — or the exquisite performance of a Ferrari or a Lamborghini? What about the unparalleled luxury of a Bentley or a Rolls Royce? It's safe to say Europe has more than proven itself in pretty much every segment of automaking, and they've kept up the tradition for a very long time.
As a car buff, you're probably pretty familiar with some of those big gun European automakers, but can you identify more of them? Do you know a Citroen from a Peugeot? A Bugatti from a Bentley? A Land Rover from a Rolls Royce? Let's hope so! Take a look at some of the most famous logos in European automaking and see how many you can identify and just how fast you can do it.
Citroën
Citroen was founded by André-Gustave Citroën, a French industrialist. He founded his company in 1919 and by 1930, it was the world's fourth-largest auto manufacturer. In 1925, he used the Eiffel Tower as a billboard for the company.
Peugeot
Mini
Skoda
Advertisement
Opel
Dacia
Daimler
Land Rover
Land Rover is most famous for its Range Rover and has been producing four-wheel-drive vehicles since 1948. The original cars were just called Land Rovers, but that became the company name after they started producing the Range Rover in 1970.
Advertisement
Audi
Dacia
Founded in 1966, Dacia is the largest company in Romania and makes up 8% of the entire country's exports as well. They currently offer a range of cars and SUVs — like the Dokker, the Lodgy and the Duster — throughout Europe and parts of Africa.
SEAT
Smart
Advertisement
Rolls Royce
Rolls Royce has a very curious history if you follow it back. Currently, the name is a subsidiary of BMW that was established in 1998. It's not actually related to Rolls Royce from before 1998 since that falls under the realm of Bentley.
Bentley
BMW
Mercedes-Benz
Advertisement
Aston Martin
Audi
Opel
Smart
The logo for the Smart company is the letter "C" with an arrow to symbolize forward-thinking compact cars. The company was actually a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and Swatch, the watchmaker.
Advertisement
SEAT
Skoda
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz has the honor of creating what is considered the very first production automobile in history. The Benz Patent-Motorwagon was manufactured in 1885 and cost 600 Imperial German marks to buy. Word is that would be just over $4,000 US today. It's not a bad price for a new car.
Alfa Romeo
Advertisement
Bugatti
Ferrari
Porsche
The classic Porsche logo is actually a melding of two pre-existing coats of arms. The first is from the city of Stuttgart, the horse on the field of yellow, as the company is based in the city. The second is for the Wurttemberg coat of arms featuring the antlers and the alternating red and black stripes.
Lamborghini
Advertisement
Maserati
Renault
Renault dates back to 1899 when it was founded as the "Société Renault Frères" or the Renault Brothers Society. Louis Renault is considered the main founder alongside his two brothers, Marcel and Fernand. The company's original logo was a stylized version of the brothers' initials. They began using the diamond logo in the 1920s.
Citroën
Fiat
Advertisement
Lada
Lada is one of the most well-known brands in Russia. The name is a type of boat, which is also what you see in the logo. Originally, they were marketed under the name Zhiguli, but that word proved to be hard for non-Russian speakers to properly pronounce.
SEAT
Skoda
Volkswagen
Advertisement
Maserati
Maybach
Maybach is currently a sub-brand of Mercedes-Benz and is known for making luxury automobiles. The company was founded in 1909 but didn't produce a car until 1919. During the war, they devoted most of their time to producing engines for German war machines.
Porsche
Lamborghini
Advertisement
Opel
Peugeot
SEAT
SEAT is an acronym name that is derived from Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo. In English, that's basically the Spanish Society of Touring Cars. Volkswagen bought the company from the Spanish government in 1986. It's the largest automaker in Spain.
Volvo
Advertisement
Austin Healey
McLaren
Volkswagen
Skoda
Skoda was founded in 1895 in Mlada Boleslav. The logo might look like a weirdly stylized bird, but it's supposed to be a winged arrow with three feathers. The company is currently a subsidiary of Volkswagen.
Advertisement
Volkswagen
Volkswagen was founded in 1937 by the German Labor Front, a labor union of the Nazi government at the time. British forces took over control of the company after the war. The British offered the entire company to Henry Ford at no charge, and he turned them down.
Volvo
Lotus
Vauxhall
Advertisement
Volvo
Audi
Audi has a long and somewhat winding history of name changes and alterations to the core of what the company was. The final settling on the name Audi is its own interesting story as it's named for its founder, August Horch. Horch means "listen" in German, which is "audi" in Latin.
Jaguar
Bentley
Advertisement
Bugatti
Bugatti is a French auto manufacturer founded by Italian automaker Ettore Bugatti in the one-time German city of Molsheim in Alsace. Molsheim is part of France again, hence the French connection. Their Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ has been clocked at 304 miles per hour.
Bentley
Lamborghini
Alfa Romeo
Advertisement
BMC
The British Motor Corporation made one of the most famous cars in history, the Mini. Though BMC no longer exists, and was defunct as of 1968, the Mini lives on, having changed hands from British Leyland to Rover to BMW over the years.
Aston Martin
Maserati
Koenigsegg
Advertisement
Peugeot
Fiat
Mercedes-Benz
BMW
BMW was founded in 1916 as a manufacturer of aircraft engines that were used during the war. When the war ended, they shifted gears and started producing things like railway brakes, motorcycle engines and farm equipment. BMW didn't make a car until 1928.
Advertisement
Lotus
Aston Martin
Aston Martin traces its roots to 1913. The company was developed as a partnership between Lionel Martin and, in a curious twist of naming, Robert Bamford. The Aston part of the name comes from where they raced and made their cars, a town called Aston Clinton.
Ferrari
Vauxhall
Advertisement
Porsche
Ferrari
Lamborghini
Ferruccio Lamborghini was so into Spanish bullfighting that he included the bull, also his zodiac symbol as a Taurus, in the logo for his company. Many of the vehicle names were also taken from bulls, like the Miura, named for a famous breeder of fighting bulls.
McLaren
Advertisement
Dacia
Peugeot
Renault
Volvo
Swedish automaker Volvo has been producing cars since 1927. The logo for Volvo, the circle with an arrow pointing up to the right is an ancient symbol for the element iron. It also stood for Mars, the Roman god of war, which was associated with iron as the metal used for weapons and warfare.
Advertisement
Opel
A man named Adam Opel founded Opel in 1862 as a sewing machine manufacturer. By 1886, they had graduated to bicycles. In 1889, they made their first car. In North America, a number of the company's cars are badge-engineered under the Cadillac and Buick names.
Astra
Maserati
Koenigsegg
Advertisement
McLaren
Ferrari
Enzo Ferrari had been involved in making cars for Alfa Romeo before branching out on his own with his famous company. Ferrari's first branded car wasn't made until 1947 when they produced the 125S. The newest car they produce is the Roma, which won't be available until 2020.
Porsche
Lamborghini
Advertisement
Lancia
Alfa Romeo
Austin Healey
Lotus
Lotus Cars was founded by a pair of Colins. Colin Chapman and Colin Dare came together in 1952 after Chapman had been making cars in his garage. They were mostly interested in racing to begin with, and their first road car which was not from a kit was the Lotus Elan in the 1960s.
Advertisement
Mini
Rolls Royce
Bentley
Bentley has been producing automobiles for 100 years. The company is known for a history of luxury cars. Over the years, the company has been owned by Rolls Royce in the 1930s and currently by Volkswagen.
AC
Advertisement
McLaren
Maserati
Alfa Romeo
Jaguar
In 1922, Jaguar was making motorcycle sidecars. Eventually, it began making automobiles and formally changed its name to Jaguar in 1945. The company has been bought and sold several times. Ford and Land Rover both owned the company for a spell, and in 2008, Ford sold Jaguar and Land Rover together to Tata Motors. Jaguar Land Rover has been in business since 2013.
Advertisement
Lister
Lister was founded in 1954 and was known for variants of the Jaguar XJS. It made its first vehicle, the Lister Storm, in 2003. It was known for having the largest V12 in a production car since the Second World War. Only three of them still exist.
Triking
Zenos
Brooke
Advertisement
Vauxhall
Noble
Caparo
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo dates back to 1910. At that time, the company was called "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili," or A.L.F.A. That, in English, is Anonymous Lombard Automobile Factory. They've been involved in racing since 1911.
Advertisement
Radical
Fiat
Fiat was founded in 1899 in Turin, Italy, and used to be one of the three largest automakers in the world until the 1980s. Currently, it's also the largest manufacturer in Brazil and has received nine European Car of the Year Awards, which is more than any other manufacturer.
Koenigsegg
McLaren
Advertisement
Vauxhall
Citroën
Peugeot
Peugeot was founded in 1810 by Jean-Pierre and Jean-Frederic Peugeot. At the time, they made bicycles and coffee mills. The distinctive lion in their logo was trademarked in 1858 by Emile Peugeot, and in 1889, the company built its first steam-powered automobile.
Maserati
Advertisement
Maserati
Maserati has been in business since 1914. The company was started by the Maserati brothers — Alfieri, Bindo, Carlo, Ettore and Ernesto. The brothers had designed cars for other companies before deciding to branch out on their own, with Alfieri taking the lead.
Koenigsegg
Radical
Hawk
Advertisement
AC
McLaren
Koenigsegg
Though Koenigsegg was founded in 1994, the company didn't produce a street-legal car until 2002. That first model was the CC86, which introduced those remarkable dihedral synchro-helix actuation doors for which Koenigsegg has become famous.
Lotus
Advertisement
Vauxhall
Vauxhall is the same company, for all intents and purposes, as Opel. The difference is that Opel is sold everywhere except in the U.K. The cars are the same but are just sold with different branding depending on the country. That said, Vauxhall was founded in 1857, when they used to make pumps and marine engines.
Holden
Opel
Dacia
Advertisement
Marlin
McLaren
McLaren is probably best known by the average person for the McLaren F1 which dates back to 1992. In 1998, it snagged a world record as the fastest production car in the world with a speed of 240.1 miles per hour. They currently make the McLaren 720S with a max speed of 212 mph.
Ariel
Lister
Advertisement
Zenos
British manufacturer Zenos isn't technically out of business, but they haven't been doing too much since 2017. The only model they made was the E10, starting in 2015 and ending in 2016. They made over 100 units, and you can pick one up today in the neighborhood of $35,000.
Bentley
Citroën
Skoda
Advertisement
Lancia
Lancia was founded by Vincenzo Lancia, one-time pilot and engineer. By 1969, they became part of the Fiat group and though they have a strong history in rally and race cars, their current big model is the Ypsilon, a supermini.
Alfa Romeo
Austin
Rolls Royce
Advertisement
Covini
Pagani
Italian manufacturer Pagani makes sports cars and supercars. Their first model, the Zonda, debuted in 1999. By 2018, only 140 had been built. The fact a new one will set you back $1.4 million or so is part of the reason they're not more widely available.
Abarth
Smart
Advertisement
Citroen
Lincoln
DS
DS is an automaker under the banner of Groupe PSA. Groupe PSA is a conglomerate, and under the name, they manufacture not just DS but Citroen, Peugeot, Opel and Vauxhall. Needless to say, it's a large company.
Jaguar
Advertisement
Skoda
SEAT
De La Chapelle
De La Chapelle is a French automaker started by Xavier de La Chapelle in the 1970s. Usually abbreviated simply as DLC, they produce a DLC Roadster, a Grand Prix, a Tourer and a couple of other very British-looking cars.
Audi
Advertisement
Dacia
Opel
Land Rover
Auverland
Auverland was formed in 1980 and was bought out by Renault Trucks Defense in 2012. That became Arquus in 2018. The company made an exceptional number of large trucks and military vehicles for the French army.
Advertisement
Alpina
Alpina was founded in 1965, though it's not one of Germany's larger manufacturers by any means. They've only been recognized as a manufacturer in their country since 1983. Before that, they were mostly doing work for BMW. That's why you can get your Alpina serviced at a BMW dealership.
Koenigsegg
Aston Martin
Volvo
Advertisement
You Got:
/40
.jpg){kind=link}
_Mercedes-Benz_automobiles,_(pic.bb1).jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
_Audi_logo.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.JPG){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg / https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Porsche_911_Turbo_(4208592954).jpg / https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2006_Maserati_Quattroporte_-_Flickr_-_The_Car_Spy_(33).jpg){kind=link}