Most of the European auto companies have gone to the "swirly psycho camo" i.e,....BMW,Audi.A lot to be said for the hard body cladding camo.In this particular car design...you really don't have any idea of the overall shape/contours of the real design.Just an observation. Thanks. PalBay

 

That’s not necessarily true as BMW, but that doesn’t limit it to other manufacturers, also use these hardened body camouflages in their early prototype vehicles. Later in testing, most likely more rigorous testing, they will remove the hard body and switch to the ‘swirly-decaled’ camouflage.

Below is a photo of the upcoming BMW 3-series. Obviously it isn't as laborious as Mercedes' but it does hide the body fenders/fascias quite well.


Photo courtesy of BimmerPost.

 

Hard body cladding camo has been dropped by most major auto companies.Mercedes Benz is the one exception that comes to mind. Most US and Japanese Auto companies still use the "baggy" loose fitting Velcro attached camo.The companies that first dropped the hard body cladding camo and adopted swirly psycho camo did it for two main reason's: 1) Hard body camo had a terrible effect on moderate to high speed aero testing. Part and parcel of early test mule evaluations. 2.) Cost and time to put on/take off the hard body cladding camo to accomplish #1 above. The swirly psycho camo is used start to finish with the companies that use that type of camo. There is no switch from hard body cladding camo to swirly camo. For companies that still use the hard body camo, when it is removed "Crease Camo" tape is used to disguise the contours and beltlines until the unveiling. The BMW X6 was the last car BMW developed that used hard body cladding camo. From a prying eyes perspective....the hard body cladding does a better job in hiding the overall look and design of the test mule. For trained eyes the swirly camo still gives you a pretty good impression of the overall look of the new car.As you can see from my two shots of the 2nd Gen BMW X3....there is not much left to the imagination with swirly camo if you know what your looking for.Thanks. PalBay

 

wtfamilookingat

 

I think that's the first time seeing a camo like that. Very interesting and I look forward to seeing how the end product is.