(BroBible.com)
Saturday, August 8, 2015
Useless Info - Car Camouflage Edition
Why Do Automakers Camouflage Pre-Production Cars?
REASON NUMBER ONE FOR USING CAMOUFLAGE: Test cars are often not fully finished, and automakers don’t want you to see them in their pre-production stages.
Yes, this sounds like a cop out. We’re going to throw camouflage on this car so you can’t see it, neener neener neener. But it’s a little more complicated than that. Test cars often feature exterior antennae, or weird data gathering packs mounted on the outside, or components that may or may not make production. And they rarely use the most flattering colors or wheels, preferring instead to go with the cheapest materials. After all, these cars are almost always destroyed once testing is complete.
As a result, the automaker has a vested interest in ensuring that you don’t see the car when it looks like that. Yeah, sure, they know you already know what it’s basically going to look like. But think about it like an automaker: would you rather the public first experience a car when it’s covered in antennae and wearing five layers of dirt from thousands of test miles? Or would you rather see it on your terms, when you release the first carefully mastered press photos after you’ve spent hours picking the right color, the right wheels, and the right backdrop?
REASON NUMBER TWO FOR USING CAMOUFLAGE: Pretend for a moment you’re Jaguar. You are leaking blood and some days you’re entirely unable to get out of bed, only to inexplicably wake up without a problem the next morning.
If you’re launching a new SUV, as Jaguar is, the last thing you want is for someone to see it two years early. Here’s why: because there has never been a car in history that people believed was handsome when they first saw it. This is a phenomenon I like to refer to as People are idiots.
What happens when we first see a car is, the design is foreign to us, and we’ve never seen those shapes before, so we decry it as ugly. Pay attention during the next auto show season when new cars are revealed here on Jalopnik. Everyone will say the same thing. Ugly. Don’t like it. Looks like insert other car here. Looks dumb. I prefer the outgoing model. That stupid chrome strip looks bad. Why are the fender flares so big.
Of course, what ends up happening is, we eventually see the design enough on the road that we no longer see it as ugly. I will never forget when the 2008 Honda Accord came out, and people were vicious about its styling. How can they sell that, they’ve ruined the Accord, blah blah blah. Now, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone whose opinion of the 2008 Accord goes much beyond the term “bland.”
So if you’re Jaguar, you don’t want people to see your F-Pace too early, because they won’t like it. Instead, they’ll buy a Cayenne. Which, coincidentally, is another car that was raked over the coals for its appearance when it first came out, even though there isn’t a single person alive today who even notices the Cayenne anymore when it goes by on the street.
What you want people to do, instead, is see camouflaged photos of the F-Pace so they get all these assumptions in their mind about what it might look like. Then they invest six months in waiting for it to come out. Then a year. By the time the production car is revealed, they’ve spent 18 months waiting for the thing. They’re not going to stop now. They’re going to head down to their local Jaguar dealer, sign the papers, and return four days later on a flatbed.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason behind automotive camouflage. Well, this, and the fact that all automotive test cars, before they are camouflaged, are the color of a tennis ball.
(Jalopnik.com)
REASON NUMBER ONE FOR USING CAMOUFLAGE: Test cars are often not fully finished, and automakers don’t want you to see them in their pre-production stages.
Yes, this sounds like a cop out. We’re going to throw camouflage on this car so you can’t see it, neener neener neener. But it’s a little more complicated than that. Test cars often feature exterior antennae, or weird data gathering packs mounted on the outside, or components that may or may not make production. And they rarely use the most flattering colors or wheels, preferring instead to go with the cheapest materials. After all, these cars are almost always destroyed once testing is complete.
As a result, the automaker has a vested interest in ensuring that you don’t see the car when it looks like that. Yeah, sure, they know you already know what it’s basically going to look like. But think about it like an automaker: would you rather the public first experience a car when it’s covered in antennae and wearing five layers of dirt from thousands of test miles? Or would you rather see it on your terms, when you release the first carefully mastered press photos after you’ve spent hours picking the right color, the right wheels, and the right backdrop?
REASON NUMBER TWO FOR USING CAMOUFLAGE: Pretend for a moment you’re Jaguar. You are leaking blood and some days you’re entirely unable to get out of bed, only to inexplicably wake up without a problem the next morning.
If you’re launching a new SUV, as Jaguar is, the last thing you want is for someone to see it two years early. Here’s why: because there has never been a car in history that people believed was handsome when they first saw it. This is a phenomenon I like to refer to as People are idiots.
What happens when we first see a car is, the design is foreign to us, and we’ve never seen those shapes before, so we decry it as ugly. Pay attention during the next auto show season when new cars are revealed here on Jalopnik. Everyone will say the same thing. Ugly. Don’t like it. Looks like insert other car here. Looks dumb. I prefer the outgoing model. That stupid chrome strip looks bad. Why are the fender flares so big.
Of course, what ends up happening is, we eventually see the design enough on the road that we no longer see it as ugly. I will never forget when the 2008 Honda Accord came out, and people were vicious about its styling. How can they sell that, they’ve ruined the Accord, blah blah blah. Now, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone whose opinion of the 2008 Accord goes much beyond the term “bland.”
So if you’re Jaguar, you don’t want people to see your F-Pace too early, because they won’t like it. Instead, they’ll buy a Cayenne. Which, coincidentally, is another car that was raked over the coals for its appearance when it first came out, even though there isn’t a single person alive today who even notices the Cayenne anymore when it goes by on the street.
What you want people to do, instead, is see camouflaged photos of the F-Pace so they get all these assumptions in their mind about what it might look like. Then they invest six months in waiting for it to come out. Then a year. By the time the production car is revealed, they’ve spent 18 months waiting for the thing. They’re not going to stop now. They’re going to head down to their local Jaguar dealer, sign the papers, and return four days later on a flatbed.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason behind automotive camouflage. Well, this, and the fact that all automotive test cars, before they are camouflaged, are the color of a tennis ball.
(Jalopnik.com)
It's Aging Well
CAR WARS! The Astounding Porsche 959 Celebrates 30 Years — Is IT The BEST Analog Supercar Or Can YOU Think Of One BETTER?
And, boy, did they get the formula right when it came out with the 959, which was considered the equivalent of the Concord. As the company prepares to celebrate the 959's 30th anniversary, we wanted to take one second to reflect: is IT the BEST analog supercar, OR can YOU think of one better?
To clarify, analog supercars are those featuring old-school technology. Rather than a dual-clutch gearbox it features three pedals, and many of those whiz-bang safety systems and traction management systems may or may not be missing altogether. These were vehicles that we now look back on and realize even now that they're staggering. Not only are they as fast as many of today's creations, they're the epitome of driving pleasure.
(AutoSpies.com)
And, boy, did they get the formula right when it came out with the 959, which was considered the equivalent of the Concord. As the company prepares to celebrate the 959's 30th anniversary, we wanted to take one second to reflect: is IT the BEST analog supercar, OR can YOU think of one better?
To clarify, analog supercars are those featuring old-school technology. Rather than a dual-clutch gearbox it features three pedals, and many of those whiz-bang safety systems and traction management systems may or may not be missing altogether. These were vehicles that we now look back on and realize even now that they're staggering. Not only are they as fast as many of today's creations, they're the epitome of driving pleasure.
(AutoSpies.com)
Sad News For The NISMO LM Program
Nissan Gives Up On GT-R LM Nismo Edurance Car After Half Season
Nissan's absence from the Nurgburgring, and perhaps the rest of this year's World Endurance Championship, is arguably of little consequence as far as the future of the ambitious GT-R LM programme goes.
What might the GT-R LM NISMO achieve should it race again in 2015? Very little, I would suggest.
That's because the GT-R LM cannot race this season in the form in which it was conceived: it has been homologated in the two-megajoule hybrid class, rather than the planned 8MJ division, and that's where it has to stay until next season.
For that reason, it has no chance of being able to show the potential of which its creator, Ben Bowlby, and Nissan global motorsport boss Darren Cox have talked so effusively.
(AutoSpies.com)
Nissan's absence from the Nurgburgring, and perhaps the rest of this year's World Endurance Championship, is arguably of little consequence as far as the future of the ambitious GT-R LM programme goes.
What might the GT-R LM NISMO achieve should it race again in 2015? Very little, I would suggest.
That's because the GT-R LM cannot race this season in the form in which it was conceived: it has been homologated in the two-megajoule hybrid class, rather than the planned 8MJ division, and that's where it has to stay until next season.
For that reason, it has no chance of being able to show the potential of which its creator, Ben Bowlby, and Nissan global motorsport boss Darren Cox have talked so effusively.
(AutoSpies.com)
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