MAN Logo

MAN (full name – MAN SE) is a very old German engineering company. Although the history dates back to the 18^th century, they only really appeared in 1908 under the name that translates to English as ‘Engineering-works Augsburg Nuremberg (shortened to MAN). Right now, they are mostly producing trucks and other heavy cars.

Meaning and History

It’s unknown when the company first started using its current logo (which is basically just their name written in thick metallic letters). They don’t really have their own iconic image, which means they probably used just the lettering to identify their cars until the 1971 when a very important change happened.

1971 – now

It’s unclear whether or not the brand had any really long-standing emblems before 1971, but that year they got their first real symbol. It’s very plausible that they used it ever since.

In 1971 they absorbed another German car brand called Bussing, which notoriously used the lion from the Brunswick (a city in mid-north) imagery. Bussing’s lion was depicted in profile, standing on all fours (only two visible) paws and roaring at something to the right.

It was initially colored and decorated a bit – the eyes, fangs and some other parts were quite visible. The modern lion is framed in a silver rectangle and has the same texture and very little detail.

Of course, some time after that they also started using the current style of their text logo – which is worn by most of their products in the shape of very large metallic letters. Sometimes they are also accompanied by a smaller word ‘diesel’.

Emblem and Symbol

Right now most trucks by MAN either wear the name alone or in combination with the lion. The lion itself is never worn separately, because it’s considered a secondary image acquired in package with the company that owned it before. Some special products also wear the Volkswagen emblem, seeing how they acquired MAN in 2011.