Car companies go to great lengths to hide new models from from the public (or car paparazzi) during road testing. They’ve gotta drive the cars, but they don’t want to give away their designs too early.
Car camouflage used to be handled with wraps, fake bodies, or fake pieces attached to the actual body. Like:
But lately I’ve noticed more companies using swirly decals or geometric stickers to mask the shape. Check these out:
I would assume once cars get deeper into the testing phase, and aerodynamics, wind noise, and overall ride quality need to be fined tuned, the bulky camp comes off and the swirly surface decals come on. But it does seem like the swirls are new in the last few years.
I wonder who’s behind them (since the same patterns are apparently used by different brands). Which company or inventor is the king of car camo?
(images from WorldCarFans).
Stephen Jenkins
on 05 Nov 09Or if you are Audi, you just roll your B8 RS4 mule down the highway in plain clothes…
http://www.vodcars.com/fastlanedaily/post/14820/spied-pre-production-audi-mule-in-colorado
In regards to the swirls – for whatever reason, they seem completely ineffective. I guess the visual pattern is no match for the human eye’s ability to differentiate depth based on shadow, etc…
Mark
on 05 Nov 09Interesting. This reminds me of the “dazzle” camouflage of ships used during WWII. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazzle_camouflage
Frank
on 05 Nov 09Its funny and huge industry. Especially for photographers who are hunting these kind of cars. Its huge. We, the car country Germany ;), call them “Erlkönig” I guess its called “Erlking” in english. Its a poem by Goethe.
What is also crazy, is the fact that graphic designers working for car magazines are often able to design the real car based on photos of covered cars. Its amazing what they can get out of it, based on their knowledge about cars and their Photoshop skills.
Shane Pinnell
on 05 Nov 09I seem to recall reading (though I don’t remember where) that these were from a company (in Germany maybe?) and that most of the manufacturers in Germany were using them.
Michael Linnane
on 05 Nov 09Trek used the same technique during the runup to the 2009 TDF to mask details of Alberto Contador’s TT bike. It was entirely effective, actually.
hop
on 05 Nov 09Is that top one shrouding a new Pontiac Aztek?
Benjy
on 05 Nov 09I was surprised to see a wrapped car in Chicago’s Loop a couple months ago around lunch time. I didn’t have time to get my iPhone out for pics, but a Google search turned up pics some Cars.com employees snapped around the same time. Was some future Ford crossover SUV…
WD
on 05 Nov 09Car and Driver profiled the king of car camo last summer:
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/08q2/the_man_who_hides_cars-feature
very spy vs spy-ish
TrendyGreen
on 05 Nov 09Given the ugly aesthetics of most cars designed for the US market, I would prefer to buy one with the camoflage still on!
random
on 05 Nov 09The swirly decals were first used by BMW and now Audi has jumped on the wagon (seem to copy everything BMW lately…).
From what I hear, the decals are pretty effective as they really make Photoshopping a pain even if they remove the fake body panels earlier in the process (which is as much about saving the cost for the body panels as more and more test vehicles hit the streets as it is about the noise etc.)
Joe Clark
on 05 Nov 09Mark is correct. It’s another example of disruptive camouflage, a practice of many decades’ standing.
yummy
on 06 Nov 09These cars looks so cool,wish to own them!
Christian Lupp
on 06 Nov 09If often seen these swirl decals used to camouflage BMW and Audi prototypes – or “Erlkönige” as Frank mentioned before. They are often testing those cars near Ingolstadt or Dingolfing here in Bavaria. Looks like they use swirl decal instead of attaching fake pieces and black fabric to be able to test noise and the bad road behavior. On my personal experience the swirl decals are working really well: When an Erlking stops at the red light besides you or when it passes by on the Autobahn you don’t get the look of the car – no way to sketch the right dimensions or guess which new model it is.
Peter
on 06 Nov 09hop: I think they never bothered to take the camouflage off the Aztek.
Kyle Faber
on 06 Nov 09i agree with stephen – first poster.
the swirls and other patterns don’t seem to have enough depth to pull away from the actual detail / structure of the car.
it’s obvious to say that the image #3 is an audi, i’m guessing a8 [the profile is a bit difficult to tell from, maybe a 6], image 2 a mitsubishi, and image 4 a pontiac g class or chevy cobalt [again, guessing….]
anyway, definitely interesting concept for masking.
nutheory
on 07 Nov 09its not camo, its small dick syndrome. and maybe you just come across a lot of douches in chicaco, like i do in OC. this is all just for looks.
MIchal
on 09 Nov 09Is it BMW?
Ryan J Naylor
on 09 Nov 09ready.
ипотпал
on 11 Nov 09Maybe, Audi?
This discussion is closed.