Ford has decided to address the issue of prototype camouflage and how they try to hide their mules in plain view with the help of sticker camo.
As most of you have already noticed, we have a lot of spyshots on our website. We get these from specialized spy photographers who travel the world to capture prototypes testing in the wild.
Carmakers do not like this practice, but there’s not much they can do about it in today’s world, when access to camera technology is widespread and testing prototypes in real-world conditions is a must.
For some reason, Ford has decided to share its ideas on camouflage with the public and issued a press release and a video depicting how and why engineers hide their cars when testing them.
Black vinyl cladding used to be the norm for camouflage in the world of prototypes, but manufacturers currently use stickers to cover up the design of their cars.
The trick with the new stickers used by Ford is that they are universal, and making them is cheaper. As Ford explains, the new patterned stickers are quicker to install, more durable than the vinyl cladding, and weight gain from adding them is hard to sense. Furthermore, they do not trap heat and don’t affect a vehicle’s aerodynamic features.
However, the biggest advancement brought by the new stickers is the optical illusions generated with the use of patterns. Car manufacturers are working very hard to keep their latest designs under wraps until the moment of the public unveiling of the production variant. So testing a prototype without camouflage or with simple black vinyl would make the car easier to identify to bystanders.
Instead, Ford and other carmakers have developed special stickers to cover up their cars. They have intricate patterns and are made using a giant printer. Thanks to the design of those models, also used by carmakers like MINI and BMW, each prototype vehicle becomes an optical illusion to the eye.
It then becomes tough for an onlooker to figure out the distinct design features of such a vehicle, so Ford and other manufacturers that go by these camouflage stickers get to keep their ideas under wraps for longer.
Nonetheless, we will continue to publish photo galleries of prototypes testing in the wild as often as we can.
Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland. Full profile
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