When the licensor is a car, motorcycle or motorsport brand, licensing works as it does elsewhere: a contract grants use of the brand on defined product categories. What changes is the attention to trademark and model protection, image control and product approval. A licensee needs to understand what is really granted, in which categories and under which rules.
How big is corporate brand licensing?
According to the latest Licensing International study, licensed merchandise and services generated $389.8 billion in global retail sales in 2025. Corporate brands account for $98.0 billion, or 25.2% of the total, and sports for $44.4 billion, or 11.4% (Licensing International, Global Licensing Survey). In the pages we reviewed, automotive does not appear as a separate line, so we cannot give a figure for it and prefer not to estimate one.
What changes when the licensor is a mobility brand
Cars and motorcycles carry something few licensors have: recognizable shapes, a history and a community of enthusiasts. Some particularities follow. We describe them as general good-practice rules, not as the stated practice of any one brand.
- The mark and the model design. A vehicle is protected by trademarks (name, logo, sometimes the shape) and, for its appearance, by design rights. In the European Union a registered design is protected for five years from filing, renewable in five-year periods up to 25 (European Parliament, summary of Directive (EU) 2024/2823). Before signing, a licensee should ask the licensor which rights are registered and where.
- Product classes. Under the Nice Classification, vehicles fall in Class 12, clothing in Class 25 and games and toys in Class 28 (EUIPO, TMclass). A mark registered for vehicles is not automatically protected for clothing or toys, so check the registrations for every category you plan to license.
- Strict approvals. Vehicle makers care a great deal about how the brand appears. Expect several approval stages (concept, sample, production), rules on colors, proportions and logo use, and limits on where and how products are sold.
- Safety and quality. Children’s products, helmets, driving accessories or technical apparel are subject to product rules, and the licensor may ask for more. Define these responsibilities in the contract.
Heritage brands and motorsport: two different logics
A heritage car or motorcycle brand lives on legacy: style, craftsmanship, timeless design. Licensing tends toward a coherent, smaller lifestyle line. Motorsport lives on seasons, teams, drivers and results. Products follow the calendar and often involve several rights holders (team, driver, championship, sponsors). For sports-led projects, see our article on sports licensing.
Typical categories
The most common categories are apparel and accessories, which the study above lists as the largest product category in licensing overall, followed by scale models, games and video games, gifts, personal accessories and lifestyle. Collecting matters most for scale models and limited editions, where fidelity to the original design and quality control are what enthusiasts notice first.
What a licensee should check
A license agreement is only as useful as it is precise. With a mobility brand, where the public knows the original product well and notices every deviation, ambiguities surface early and cost time and rework. Before investing in development and production, these checks are worth making. They are general advice and do not replace a lawyer’s counsel.
Beyond product type, the sales channel matters too. Overall, the same study reports that 68% of licensed sales happen in brick-and-mortar channels and 32% online, so physical retail and packaging remain central to a licensed range (License Global, 2026).
- Which marks and designs are registered, in which classes and territories.
- Granted categories, channels and territories, and whether the contract includes exclusivity.
- The approval process: stages, response times, who decides.
- The style guide: logo, colors, permitted imagery and prohibited uses.
- Third-party rights (drivers, teams, championships, photography) and who manages them.
- Quality and product safety requirements, and rules for selling off leftover stock.
Where licensing, design and brand extension meet
A good agreement starts from a credible extension question: can the brand enter a new category without losing what makes it recognizable? That is the subject of brand extension. For the broader picture, see how brand licensing works and licensed merchandise.
Our portfolio includes licensing projects in lifestyle, motors and sport: FIAT 500, Vespa, Wolf Racing, Mascalzone Latino and Route 66.
If you are weighing a licensing project, as a brand owner or as a company interested in a license, we handle it in our licensing service, together with graphic design work on the products.
