Buick Logo

Brand History

The Buick Story

Buick traces to the Detroit engine works Scottish-born inventor David Dunbar Buick set up in 1899; the company that carried his name began building cars a few years later and pioneered the overhead-valve engine. Under William C. Durant, Buick's success provided the financial foundation for the creation of General Motors in 1908. Positioned for decades as GM's premium brand below Cadillac, Buick produced landmarks such as the Roadmaster and Riviera, and it later found enormous success in China, which became its largest market.

Logo History

Evolution Of The Buick Logo

1. 1900s–1930s

   Early Buick badging relied mainly on wordmarks and script lettering of the Buick name.

2. 1937–1959

   Buick adopted a single heraldic shield derived from the ancestral Scottish coat of arms of the Buik family, featuring a diagonal band, a stag and a cross.

3. 1960–1975

   The single shield became the now-famous 'tri-shield', three shields in red, white and blue arranged diagonally to represent the LeSabre, Invicta and Electra model lines.

4. 1976–late 1980s

   Buick temporarily switched to a hawk emblem, informally known as 'Happy', introduced alongside the Skyhawk era before the tri-shield returned.

5. 1990–2022

   The tri-shield was refined and enclosed in a circle, for much of the period rendered in monochrome silver on a blue or plain field.

6. 2022–present

   A flatter, modernised tri-shield was introduced, with the three shields arranged side by side and freed from the surrounding ring, signalling the brand's electric transition.

Model Evolution

Buick Through The Years

8 milestone models from 1904 to 2014.

1904

1936

1953

1959

1963

1973

2007

2014