Key facts
- Founded
- 1945
- Founded by
- Kailash Chandra Mahindra, Jagdish Chandra Mahindra, Malik Ghulam Muhammad
- Country
- India
- Headquarters
- Worli, Mumbai, India
- Legal name
- Mahindra & Mahindra Limited
- Famous models
- Scorpio, Thar, Bolero, XUV700, XUV300
- Website
- www.mahindra.com
Mahindra Logo at a Glance: Which One Is Current?
The Mahindra logo new SUVs wear is Twin Peaks, a silver emblem unveiled on August 9, 2021. Born Electric EVs have carried a black infinity-shaped M since August 15, 2023. The old Mahindra logo, a red oval called Road Ahead, still appears on trucks, tractors and group materials. So the Mahindra car logo you see depends on whether the vehicle is an SUV, an EV or a work vehicle.
| Logo | Since | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|
| Twin Peaks | August 9, 2021 | Mahindra SUVs, starting with the XUV700 |
| Born Electric (infinity M) | August 15, 2023 | Born Electric EVs from Mahindra Electric Automobiles |
| Road Ahead oval, red wordmark | 2000 (red wordmark since 2012) | Commercial vehicles, tractors, the Mahindra Group |
Mahindra Logo History: From the First Emblem to Today
The history is not a straight line of replacements. There have been six Mahindra logos, and the three newest overlap: the 2000 oval, updated with a red wordmark in 2012, runs alongside the 2021 SUV emblem and the 2023 EV mark.
The Early Hand-and-Tool Emblem
The earliest known Mahindra emblem is black line art of a hand gripping a wrench, with the fingers drawn as two lowercase m shapes side by side. There is no color and no wordmark. The badge stood for handcraft, and by 2021 it was more than 50 years old. Logo databases date it 1948 to 1966, but no official Mahindra source confirms those years, so treat them as approximate.
The Black and Silver Medallion Badge
A round badge came next, the design that puts Mahindra among car logos with circles. A black outer ring with white spokes and a silver rim surrounds a white center split into four by a cross, and the name Mahindra runs across the middle on a banner in bold black slab letters. Some logo sites call it steering-wheel-like and date it 1966 to 2000; neither the reading nor the dates come from Mahindra. It is the one version with no M motif.
2000: The Road Ahead Oval (the Old Mahindra Logo)
In 2000 Mahindra unveiled a new group logo it called Road Ahead. This is the old Mahindra logo most people remember: a red oval crossed by three white diagonal lines that converge toward the upper right, above a heavy, rounded wordmark in grey. Many descriptions call the whole logo grey or silver, but only the lettering was grey. The oval was never retired and is still used on commercial vehicles and farm equipment.
2012: The Red Wordmark
In 2012 Mahindra kept the oval and redrew the lettering. Landor Associates worked with Mahindra’s in-house design team on a hand-drawn wordmark, and the grey gave way to what Mahindra calls an “energetic” deep red. The identity was first shown internally at the Beijing Bluechip conference in 2012 and rolled out publicly over 2012 and 2013, after the group had launched its Rise purpose in January 2011. Trucks, tractors and the group still use this version.
2021: Twin Peaks, the Mahindra Car Logo for SUVs
The new Mahindra logo for SUVs is Twin Peaks, unveiled on August 9, 2021. It drops both the lettering and the oval. Two mirrored, sharp-edged silver elements rise outward from a gap in the middle, shaded like 3D chrome, and together read as an M. Mahindra made it exclusively for its SUV range; it debuted on the XUV700 and then spread to other SUVs in phases. The Mahindra Design Team created it under Chief Design Officer Pratap Bose, his first design for the brand. It launched with a new SUV brand statement, “Explore the Impossible.”
2023: The Born Electric Logo for Mahindra EVs
On August 15, 2023, at its Futurescape event in Cape Town, Mahindra Electric Automobiles unveiled a separate logo for its Born Electric vehicles, first shown on the Vision Thar.e concept. It is flat and solid black: two thick arcs loop into an infinity shape that doubles as an M, with small gaps where the strokes cross. Pratap Bose led the design again. It is the new Mahindra logo for EVs only and does not replace Twin Peaks. The August 8 date some sites give is wrong.
A gold “80th Year” logo appeared on mahindra.com in 2026, but it marks the group’s anniversary and is not a change of brand logo.
Does Mahindra Have Two Logos? Which Vehicles Use Which
Yes, and in fact it has three. Mahindra split its identity by business: SUVs got Twin Peaks in 2021, the electric range got its own mark in 2023, and the rest of the company kept Road Ahead. So the old Mahindra logo is still in use, just not on SUVs.
| Product line | Logo on the vehicle | Since |
|---|---|---|
| SUVs (Mahindra Automotive) | Twin Peaks, silver, no lettering | 2021 |
| Born Electric EVs | Infinity M, black, no lettering | 2023 |
| Commercial vehicles | Road Ahead oval, red wordmark | 2000 (wordmark 2012) |
| Tractors and farm equipment | Road Ahead oval, red wordmark | 2000 (wordmark 2012) |
Mahindra presented Twin Peaks as an identity crafted only for its SUV portfolio and said commercial vehicles and farm equipment would keep Road Ahead. The EV mark follows the same logic. That is why a new Mahindra SUV and a Mahindra tractor from the same year wear different badges, and why the Mahindra logo car buyers see on a current SUV is Twin Peaks.
What Does the Mahindra Logo Mean?
There is no single Mahindra logo meaning, because each Mahindra symbol was made for a different job. The letter M recurs across several versions, and for the two newest marks Mahindra has explained the meaning itself:
- Twin Peaks (SUVs): the Mahindra car symbol today. Pratap Bose said the “2 M’s” stand for an expansive, exciting future built on solid heritage. Mahindra also tied the emblem to freedom.
- Born Electric (EVs): the infinity sign is the constant flow of energy, the racetrack shape nods to racing heritage, and the circular form stands for intelligent sustainability. The whole mark is the Mahindra M reimagined.
- Road Ahead oval: the three converging lines read as a road, matching the logo’s name.
- Red: Mahindra calls the 2012 wordmark color “energetic red,” a deeper shade of its signature red.
- Hand-and-tool emblem: the m-shaped fingers and the tool stood for handcraft.
Two popular readings of the Mahindra symbol are not Mahindra’s. No source backs the claim that the oval’s three lines mean “products, services and possibilities.” And “accept no limits, alternative thinking, positive change” are the pillars of the group’s 2011 Rise purpose, not a description of the 2000 oval.
Mahindra & Mahindra Logo vs Mahindra Rise Logo
The Mahindra & Mahindra logo and the Mahindra Rise logo share the red, hand-drawn wordmark from 2012; the difference is where each is used. Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, which began by assembling Willys Jeeps under license, is the flagship of the Mahindra Group and its 100-plus subsidiaries. On its trucks and tractors, and as the Mahindra company logo, the wordmark sits under the Road Ahead oval. The Mahindra Rise logo is the group-level wordmark, offered as a “Mahindra Rise” PNG on the official media resources page.
Rise is not a car slogan. Mahindra launched it in January 2011 as the group’s core purpose and brand positioning, and the group website’s tagline is “Together We Rise.”
Tech Mahindra, a separate listed company in the group, introduced a lozenge symbol on October 24, 2025, describing it as an interpretation of the group’s Rise beam. It belongs to the Mahindra group logo family, not to any car badge.
Mahindra Logo PNG, Colors and Font
The Mahindra logo PNG on this page is the red Mahindra wordmark used by the group, its trucks and its tractors. Colors by version:
- Red: the Road Ahead oval with white lines, and the wordmark since 2012, which puts Mahindra among red car logos.
- Silver: Twin Peaks, with chrome-like shading.
- Black: the Born Electric mark, Mahindra’s official black design. To print the Mahindra logo black and white, note that the early hand emblem was already drawn in black line art.
The lettering is not a standard font: Landor and Mahindra’s team drew the 2012 wordmark by hand, with sharp diagonal cuts on the i and a.
Official files, including the Mahindra Rise logo PNG and the Mahindra Group Brand Guidelines dated October 3, 2024, are on the media resources page of mahindra.com. The logos are Mahindra trademarks, so check those guidelines before using one beyond identifying the company.
Frequently asked questions
Why did Mahindra change its logo?
Mahindra mostly added logos rather than replacing the old one. The 2012 redraw gave the group a sharper red identity, and it came with a new graphic device called the Ridge, inspired by the ridges of Mount Everest and meant to show the path to potential. SUVs and EVs later got badges of their own.
Is the Mahindra logo the same as the Meta logo?
No. They are separate designs from unrelated companies. People compare them because the 2023 Born Electric mark and Meta's symbol are both built on a looped, infinity-like line. Mahindra explains its own mark as a constant flow of energy, a racetrack and a reimagined M.
Is the Mahindra logo inspired by a butterfly?
There is no official statement linking any Mahindra logo to a butterfly. The idea comes from shape alone, since the mirrored wings of the Twin Peaks SUV badge and the looped arcs of the EV mark can look like one. Mahindra's own descriptions talk about two Ms, peaks and an infinity sign instead.
Who designed the new Mahindra logo?
Both new logos were designed in-house. The Mahindra Design Team, led by Chief Design Officer Pratap Bose, created the 2021 Twin Peaks SUV badge, and Bose also led the 2023 Born Electric mark. An outside agency, Landor Associates, was involved earlier, when it helped Mahindra's own designers redraw the red wordmark in 2012.
Who owns Mahindra?
Mahindra & Mahindra Limited is a publicly listed Indian company, traded on the BSE under code 500520 and on the NSE as M&M, so its shareholders own it. It has been a buyer rather than a target, taking a majority stake in SsangYong in 2011 and agreeing in 2015, with Tech Mahindra, to buy 76.06% of Pininfarina.
What does Mahindra mean?
Mahindra is simply the family surname of the founding brothers, K. C. and J. C. Mahindra. The company began as Mahindra & Mohammed, and in 1948, after Partition, partner Ghulam Muhammad moved to Pakistan and it became Mahindra & Mahindra. The popular claim that it is named after a god is a myth.
Is Mahindra an Indian company?
Yes. Mahindra was founded on October 2, 1945, in Ludhiana, Punjab, as a steel trading company, and it moved into vehicles by assembling Willys Jeeps under license. Its head office is now in Mumbai, which is why some sources wrongly name Mumbai as its birthplace. Today it is the world's largest tractor maker by volume.
