From thE fIEld to thE faSt lanE: ModErnIzIng an AmErIcan lEgacy

Our company’s founder, Cyrus McCormick, is famous for the invention of the mechanical reaper. At 22 years old, McCormick took his father’s failed idea and reengineered the design, and with it, completely revolutionized the agricultural industry. This invention became the main product sold by the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, founded in 1831. In 1902, financier J.P. Morgan conducted the merger of five reaper makers, naming the company International Harvester because the brand had operations in many countries.

In the 1980s, the company left the agricultural industry to focus solely on the engine, truckand school bus business, reintroducing itself as Navistar International Corporation. In 2021, Navistar was acquired by TRATON Group, a subsidiary of Volkswagen. Because of this, Navistar became a brand with no clear role.

As a result, in 2024, we went back to our roots as International.

Today, some 15,000 employees represent the International brand.

Everyone here at International recognizes the significance of those who came before us. From the beginning, we asked ourselves: How do we update a legacy brand while honoring our roots?

It starts with being genuine. And there is nothing more real to International than our customers’ perception of our brand. From a plant visit to an interaction with a dealer service center, a search on our website, and every touchpoint in between, a customer should have a seamless experience.

To ensure consistency in that experience, one of the easiest ways a brand can spread its pride is through its logo. Raymond Loewy, who worked with International Harvester in 1935, was considered one of the best designers in the world at the time. He assisted with many of our classic tractor and truck designs, and his iconic D-Series design is still an inspiration for our vehicle designs today. Here, Lowey is best known for designing the 1944 International Harvester logo, known as “man on the tractor.”

With this history in mind, we knew the updated International logo should connect to our past. The new logo features the eternal road motif, and if you have been a long-time fan of International, you may recognize this simplified design from our previous logos. 

While a logo is often the most recognized element, the devil is in the details to truly bring a brand to life. For that, we focused on paying homage to our heritage by ensuring everything from the custom typeface to the color palette represented our new visual identity. The new custom headline typeface was inspired by hand-painted farm signs from the era of the Farmall tractor.

Our color palette follows suit, taking inspiration from the North American landscape where our vehicles have operated for decades. For example, a blend of desert landscape and recognition of our past products like the Farmall tractor are represented with “Harvester Red.”

For us, brand is so important because it is personal. Behind every interaction is a human. And just as the North American landscape is varied and unique, so are the customers we serve—people who sacrifice time away from their families to haul goods, clean snow and debris off our roadways, act as first responders during natural disasters, help rebuild our nation’s infrastructure, or drive children to and from school.

Pride as part of this country’s landscape is our leg to stand on. 

As we continue to evolve, this reintroduction and modernization of our brand marks a significant milestone in our company’s history. We will never stop our drive to become a more innovative, forward-thinking version of who we are without forgetting our nearly 200 years of success.