It may resemble a rocket, but the iconic DEUTZ logo has a spiritual history.
The distinctive design is based on a famous German church in the town where a company that eventually became part of DEUTZ AG was founded.
Ulm Minster (German: Ulmer Münster) is a Lutheran church in Ulm, in the State of Baden-Württemberg. When completed in 1890 after several centuries, it was the world’s fifth tallest building built before the 20th century.
The grand structure is often mistaken for a cathedral due to its size. At 161.5 metres, it was the world’s tallest building for a short time.
So how is this beautiful building linked to DEUTZ?
The first distinctive symbol was used by the firm C.D. Magirus AG in Ulm, which was known for making trucks, fire engines and buses. That company was taken over in 1936 by Humboldt-Deutzmotoren AG in Cologne, which later became DEUTZ AG.
C.D. Magirus AG’s first company badge was developed when it started its heavy goods vehicle production in Ulm in 1917. It shows Ulm Minster inside a cogwheel.
Around 1920, MAGIRUS ULM was added as an outer band. The cog motif was red for the vehicles used by the fire service and blue for heavy goods vehicles.
In 1925, the combined Minster tower and the large capital letter M of Magirus appeared, with the name MAGIRUS ULM A.D (an der Donau).
In 1936 C.D. Magirus AG was taken over by Humboldt-Deutzmotoren AG of Cologne. This concluded an integration contract in 1938 with Klöckner-Werke AG in Duisburg to trade as Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz AG (KHD).
The newly designed badge was combined with the Magirus logotype as the product trademark, and later in modified forms for KHD-Werk Magirus in Ulm only.
In 1964, to mark the company’s centenary, the tower symbol became the official trademark for the whole group in several combinations.
The current company logo was introduced in 1999 when KHD AG became DEUTZ AG.
DEUTZ Australia technical and service support expert David Howes remembers his colleagues at DEUTZ UK dubbing the logo the “DEUTZ rocket”.
“It has evolved over the years,” he says. “It was always known as the DEUTZ rocket. Everybody knows the DEUTZ symbol.”