why do cars in testing phase have such badass painting? why does it look like that?

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[look](https://www.automobilesreview.com/gallery/2021-mercedes-amg-project-one/2021-mercedes-amg-project-one20200907_03.jpg)

Edit: this pic i posted isn’t actually “testing phase paint”, [this one is](https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/indiatoday/images/story/201706/honda-accord_story_647_061417022650.jpg). Still badass, tho

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21 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Used to work for a car manufacturer. They do it to obfuscate the design, which others have already stated. But, what I haven’t seen anybody mention is that they do it to keep competitors from seeing their designs. The thing is, car companies are always trying to get an edge up on one another in sales. If another company gets to see what design they are using with the body, they can copy it. Take a look on the road now and you’ll notice how many car bodies have a similar design because that’s what they know sells.

The longer they can keep their body design a secret, the better their sales I’m whatever niche they are trying to fil, assuming someone else doesn’t come out with something similar.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Back in the early 90’s I saw some cars that were covered with thick pads climbing a mountain road in Colorado. Came to the conclusion it was a new model they were doing high altitude testing on.

Anonymous 0 Comments

The patterns are designed to reek havoc on your camera’s auto focus as well as confuse the eye.

Anonymous 0 Comments

You seriously don’t know this?

Anonymous 0 Comments

I hope someone sees this answer because I actually work in automotive advertising. Your photo is a perfect example of the major misunderstanding that people have about that paint scheme.

True, OEMs do “camo” their cars to hide the bumps, curves and whatnot on their test vehicles. That said, your photo is not that. Do you notice how it’s a great photo? It looks like it was taken by a professional who is on the track; in fact, the motion blur you see was probably added in post. Why would an OEM go out of their way to photograph a vehicle that they are trying to hide? More likely, this is promotional photo, published by the MB.

The Accord in your other photo was wrapped by the vehicle’s owner, not the OEM. The amount of effort put into the wrap is beyond what is required to disguise a vehicle. Did they really need to wrap the side mirrors, and Honda logo????

Sometimes you see cars with this paint scheme (it’s actually a vinyl wrap) on the road. Those cars almost always belong to someone who had the car wrapped. If you look, it’s almost always a past model year. OEMs don’t need to disguise past model years. Real test vehicles, which are called bucks, are rarely driven on public roads. When they are taken on public roads, OEMs don’t like to attract attention with catchy paint.

How to spot a real test vehicle. Most of the testing will be done in a closed track, so you’ve probably never seem a real one, especially if you don’t live near Detroit or LA. Real bucks are either painted to not stand out, or they are covered in padded fabric panels. This is the only way to truly hide the bumps and curves on a test vehicle. You should also look inside of the vehicle. If you don’t see computers and other sensors everywhere, it’s probably not a buck. Remember, a test vehicle is pre-production. That mean the inside will be a hodgepodge of existing parts, just enough to let someone drive it and maybe let them have AC.

TLDR: 99% of the vehicles you see with that pattern are not test vehicles, they belong to regular people who want to wrap their car to look cool. Real test vehicles look like pre-production test cars, they are wrapped in padded fabric, mismatched parts that may not fit together well, and an unfinished interior. Real test vehicles mostly stay on private tracks.

Anonymous 0 Comments

They don’t all do that. I used to see lots of test vehicles when I worked on Pikes Peak (popular place to do high altitude testing), and while some had this paint job, most were just flat black with all the badging removed.

Anonymous 0 Comments

So a lot of comments about the dazzle paint are correct. I just wanted to convey how effective it was: I worked with a dazzle camo’d car for months, driving it for multiple hours a day. Between the camo and the fact they removed a lot of the trim on the fascia I had no fucking idea what the car looked like, when it was revealed to the public I was pretty surprised, even though I was up close to the car every day

Anonymous 0 Comments

I grew up in a small town with two car testing facilities. In highschool a friend and I used to sneak into the facilities, snap pictures on a disposable camera, and sell them to Car & Driver for $20-$30 per car. They always had the camouflage paint, as well as fake geometric features to hide

Anonymous 0 Comments

I live in a climate were they test new cars. We see a lot of european cars being tested. This is because of our -30 temperatures in the winter. Each car does not have a paint job in your photos but a fabric jacket over the vehicle. This is to hide all of the lines and styling.

Fun fact: each year they put out a “looking for drivers” ad to drive vehicles like the one you have pictured. It is required you have a perfect driving record with no prior speeding tickets. Once you get the job you drive these performance sports cars at speed limit in a line of 5 of the same vehicle for 8 hours a day. All in town driving, making as many turns as possible. It seems incredible boring.

Anonymous 0 Comments

In German we call it Erlkönig, after a German poem about a ghost that haunts a father and his son