By Liz
One of the unusual things about testing future cars is the use of camouflage. This is the stuff we use to disguise or cover the outside of vehicles, particularly when we’re driving on public roads.
Obviously, the main purpose is to conceal the styling of vehicles that are not yet ready to be seen publicly. Is this because we don’t want competitors to know what we’re up to? Or is it to conceal future ideas from
photographers and media? Or is it simply to disguise pre-production bodywork that is not yet perfected?
Yes, all of the above can be reasons to use camo.
Some of you visiting the site have asked us why we’re still using it on the 2008 Cadillac CTS, given that we are already showing this car publicly at auto shows and the like. There are a few reasons for this. Many of the CTS test cars we’ve been using for a long time were built long before we showed the car in an auto show. So they were prepared for camo from the start. We, of course, still have many uses for these and continue to drive them a lot.
In many cases, these cars are built primarily for testing, so they may not have the proper appearance aspects – such as finished paint, badges or other purely visual stuff. They’re built to be tested, not to be pretty. So those test cars will probably wear that camo proudly for a long time to come.
Of course, if you see a Cadillac with camo on it, it also may be that it’s some future model that actually has not been publicly revealed!
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Comments
I think the answer is all three.
Posted by: getalifeagain | March 16, 2007 10:24 PM
Is the new CTS-V going to be offered with an automatic and all wheel drive? If so, sign me up!
Posted by: Sean | March 18, 2007 2:47 AM
So some of these camo'd cars are not complete in terms of body work?
I've always wondered how the camo affected the airflow around the vehicle and through the radiator. Many of the photos shown here and elsewhere show a covering over the grille that I would think would have a negative impact on cooling, and handling for some of the more radical camo jobs.
How are these issues addressed when the cars are being concealed?
Posted by: Scot S. | March 18, 2007 9:37 PM