Bentley Motors unveiled a new “Bentley Wings” emblem on 1 July 2025, marking the fifth iteration of the iconic “Winged B” in the marque’s 106-year history. The redesign was led by Bentley’s Director of Design Robin Page and created entirely in-house, with the winning concept proposed by Young Nam, a member of the Interior Design team, following a company-wide design competition. The new emblem debuted on a future vision concept car revealed on 8 July 2025, coinciding with the opening of Bentley’s new Design Studio in Crewe, England. [1]
Design and History
The original “Winged B” was created in 1919 by F. Gordon Crosby, a renowned motoring artist of the pre-war years and a friend of founder W.O. Bentley. Crosby designed the emblem with the “B” of Bentley inside a pair of wings chosen to represent the exhilaration of motion, with a possible reference to W.O. Bentley’s background as a designer of engines for fighter planes in the First World War. To make the design unique and stay ahead of fraudulent imitations, Crosby gave each wing a different number of feathers. [1]
When Bentley passed into the ownership of Rolls-Royce in 1931, a second emblem was created. This iteration was symmetrical, with 10 straightened feathers on each side flanking a simpler “B” in a plain black oval. This version became the longest-standing example in the company’s history, remaining in use until the emblem’s third revision circa 1996, when the central “B” was revised to echo the original and more pronounced curvature returned to the wings. [1]
Following Bentley’s purchase by the Volkswagen Group in 1998, the emblem was redesigned again in preparation for the first Continental GT, launched in 2002. This version honoured the 1919 original by reverting to an asymmetric design, with 10 feathers to the left and 11 to the right. This Winged B served as Bentley’s primary identity until the 2025 redesign. [1]
The 2025 emblem is described by Bentley as the biggest change to the mark in more than a century of history. The wings are sharper and more dramatic than the outgoing version, reminiscent of the angled wings of a Peregrine Falcon, and the lower feathers underneath the “B” have been removed entirely for a visually cleaner shape. [1]
Meaning and Symbolism
Bentley states that its emblem has always been a symbol of motion, performance and elegance, a vision understood by founder W.O. Bentley when he asked F. Gordon Crosby to create the original Winged B in 1919. [2] The mission in designing the new emblem was to capture beautiful details from previous designs, such as the diamond pattern of the inner wings and the “B” centre jewel, while creating a more modern and progressive design. [1]
The centre of the wings retains the “B” centre jewel, redesigned so the device can stand alone and be used as a graphic without the wings. The jewel was redesigned to capture the high-quality details seen in luxury watch design, including a bevelled glass edge and chamfered metal surround, with a 3D depth of the “B” below the surface. [1]
Robin Page commented on the redesign: “If a luxury brand is the product of the stories it has created, then its emblem is its signature. In an era of ever-increasing complexity and fidelity from digitalisation, an exercise of simplification and refinement is a modern necessity, and so the new emblem is cleaner, sharper and more impactful than its predecessor.” [1]
Typography and Design
Bentley’s corporate design was developed with the design agency KMS TEAM, which updated and digitized the symbol, enhanced the colours and developed a unique typeface for the brand. The new typography was inspired by the widely used British sans-serif Gill, previously used as the corporate typeface, but made more unique. A complete set of upper- and lowercase characters in two versions (Regular and Expanded), each with four typestyles (Heavy, Bold, Regular and Light), was developed on the basis of the Bentley wordmark. The design matrix, or the distinctive grid used in all media, was defined based on the vehicle’s grille. [3]
Logo Index is an independent educational archive covering logos, visual identities and graphic design history. All trademarks and brand assets remain the property of their respective owners.
