In this essay I aim to answer the question “How is the eco-branding of large automotive companies expressed, in relation to the paradigm shift towards demands for sustainability?”. The purpose is to examine the difficulties and balancing of eco-branding within the automotive industry. This is done through a comparative analysis of three large automotive companies and their use of eco-branding, together with my own experience from a similar design project. Corporate identity and visual communication is studied through the electric and hybrid cars BMW i3, Tesla Model S and Toyota Prius. The positioning of the brands within the field is linked to theory on sustainable development, eco-branding and greenwashing; to discuss demands for transparency and the brands perceived legitimacy and credibility. It is revealed that the different companies brand themselves in relatively different ways, with different degrees of eco-branding.This depends on the values and history of the company and it’s brand. Even though there is a balancing between greenwashing and credibility, they all have different strengths, as well as areas for improvement to increase company transparency and authenticity. A conclusion is however that eco-branding is becoming more credible and the trend of greenwashing is generally started to slightly diminish. It is revealed that future vision plays a central part in all of the brands. However conventional companies are shown to have significantly more difficulties in positioning themselves within the paradigmshift compared to newer actors.