ATS Logo: Meaning, History and Evolution

The ATS logo is a round badge with a bronze-coloured rim and a light-blue enamel field. ATS, short for Automobili Turismo e Sport, was an Italian maker of sports and racing cars from Bologna that existed from 1961 to 1965.

ATS Logo

The ATS emblem is a circle. Inside it, the letters a, t and s are drawn as one monogram of thin horizontal bars, with a single vertical line rising through the middle of the t. Beneath the letters a dragon-like creature walks along the lower part of the circle, next to a small shield with diagonal stripes. On the metal badge the rim is bronze and the field is light blue.

The same emblem works as the ATS symbol and the ATS car logo of the marque. The page offers the ATS logo PNG with a transparent background. The picture shown here is a photograph of a 1963 enamel badge, so the metal rim and the gloss of the enamel are visible.

ATS Logo History

The company ended in 1965, so both forms below are an old ATS logo of a marque that is no longer made. The first is the enamel ATS badge of 1963, with the bronze rim and blue field.

The second is a black line-drawing of the same emblem on white. It leaves out the colours and the metal and shows the structure alone: the circle, the monogram bars, the vertical stroke and the creature. It is the form suited to documents and printed lists, while the enamel version belongs on the cars.

ATS History

What does ATS stand for? Automobili Turismo e Sport. The company was formed in 1961 in Bologna, after the “Palace Revolution” at Ferrari. Carlo Chiti and Giotto Bizzarrini were among the founders. They meant it to be a direct competitor to Ferrari both on the race track and on the street, with sponsorship from Count Giovanni Volpi of the Scuderia Serenissima.

The road car was the ATS 2500 GT, a small coupe with bodywork designed by Franco Scaglione and built by Allemano. It had a mid-mounted 2.5-litre V8 engineered by Chiti that produced 245 hp. The car was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in April 1963, and only 12 are reported to have been built. Its engine was later developed into the Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 unit.

The racing team ran from 1963 to 1965. Its Formula One car, the Tipo 100, was unveiled in Bologna in December 1962 and driven by Phil Hill and Giancarlo Baghetti. The only race in which an ATS was classified as a finisher was the 1963 Italian Grand Prix, where Hill came 11th and Baghetti 15th. That season ended the ATS team in Formula One.