Why Manufacturers Camouflage Their Test Cars

We all have spotted test cars driving around, camouflaged. Ever wondered why these cars are camouflaged? Well, there’s more to it than you might know. Read ahead to find out why manufacturers camouflage their test cars!

• Camouflaging started way back in the 1900s when British soldiers wrapped their ships in black and white. This made the size, direction, and speed of the ships unidentifiable and it led to over 4,00 ships being camouflaged in the First World War!
• The cars are camouflaged because automakers don’t want people to take a look at the designs that haven’t been revealed yet. You might think, even with the camouflage, we can still figure out what car it is. That’s correct, but, the camouflage is not in place for us to not recognize the car, it is in place so that we don’t get to see the details of the designs. The camouflage helps hide these details like cuts and creases, contours on the body, etc. Black and white, in particular, help break the design and also blurs out a lot of photos. Since these cars are mostly clicked while they’re on the move, the black and white patches trick the camera quite well. Wraps are not restricted to the exteriors, many manufacturers also wrap up the inside of their cars. As an alternative, a mesh coating is used on the windows of test cars so that the interior is not clearly visible to the cameras and the naked eye as well. 
• Manufacturers also use layers of plastic and foam at times, to completely camouflage the car, end-to-end. They remove these foam and plastic covers and replace them with black and white camouflage wraps when the aerodynamics of the car needs to be tested.  Colors other than black and white are also used, but it is mostly restricted to shiny and reflective colors. In some cases, manufacturers have also used a matt-black wrap to camouflage a car!
• Okay, this is not it. Manufacturers also go to the extent of changing body parts. Very often, new cars are tested with the. body parts of an older car, or even a completely different car. For example, back in 2010, the VW Vento was camouflaged as a Ford sedan! This certainly confused many people and VW took it away smoothly. Even the Maserati Levante was first tested on the body of the Ghibli! Covering cars with a thick piece of cloth is also one of the camouflaging tricks many companies use. This is probably the best one because the design of the car is next to invisible here.

  

• While camouflaging is a neat trick to keep your projects a secret, many manufacturers specifically design these wraps to show off a new car. This is done in cases where a specific feature like a sunroof needs to be showcased. The Audi e-Tron, for example, was wrapped in a shiny black and orange camouflage that very slyly showcased the overall look of the car.

  

• Over the years, camouflaging has become sophisticated and companies focus on it a lot. According to Skoda, over 120 hours are poured into the designing of these wraps so that they look attractive and at the same time don’t give information away.

• Why not test them privately?

Well, they do. Automakers do test their cars in private testing facilities before bringing them out on the roads. However, it is imperative to test these cars in real-time traffic conditions too. These cars are not only tested in cities, but also in remote locations like the Himalayan region. This is done to gauge the vehicle’s capabilities in different road conditions.

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