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Or if you are Audi, you just roll your B8 RS4 mule down the highway in plain clothes…

http://www.vodcars.com/fastlanedaily/post/14820/spied-pre-production-audi-mule-in-colorado

In regards to the swirls – for whatever reason, they seem completely ineffective. I guess the visual pattern is no match for the human eye’s ability to differentiate depth based on shadow, etc…

Interesting. This reminds me of the “dazzle” camouflage of ships used during WWII . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazzle_camouflage

Its funny and huge industry. Especially for photographers who are hunting these kind of cars. Its huge. We, the car country Germany ;), call them “Erlkönig” I guess its called “Erlking” in english. Its a poem by Goethe.

What is also crazy, is the fact that graphic designers working for car magazines are often able to design the real car based on photos of covered cars. Its amazing what they can get out of it, based on their knowledge about cars and their Photoshop skills.

I seem to recall reading (though I don’t remember where) that these were from a company (in Germany maybe?) and that most of the manufacturers in Germany were using them.

Trek used the same technique during the runup to the 2009 TDF to mask details of Alberto Contador’s TT bike. It was entirely effective, actually.

Is that top one shrouding a new Pontiac Aztek?

I was surprised to see a wrapped car in Chicago’s Loop a couple months ago around lunch time. I didn’t have time to get my iPhone out for pics, but a Google search turned up pics some Cars.com employees snapped around the same time. Was some future Ford crossover SUV …

Car and Driver profiled the king of car camo last summer:

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/08q2/the_man_who_hides_cars-feature

very spy vs spy-ish

Given the ugly aesthetics of most cars designed for the US market, I would prefer to buy one with the camoflage still on!

The swirly decals were first used by BMW and now Audi has jumped on the wagon (seem to copy everything BMW lately…).

From what I hear, the decals are pretty effective as they really make Photoshopping a pain even if they remove the fake body panels earlier in the process (which is as much about saving the cost for the body panels as more and more test vehicles hit the streets as it is about the noise etc.)

Mark is correct. It’s another example of disruptive camouflage, a practice of many decades’ standing.

These cars looks so cool,wish to own them!

If often seen these swirl decals used to camouflage BMW and Audi prototypes – or “Erlkönige” as Frank mentioned before. They are often testing those cars near Ingolstadt or Dingolfing here in Bavaria. Looks like they use swirl decal instead of attaching fake pieces and black fabric to be able to test noise and the bad road behavior. On my personal experience the swirl decals are working really well: When an Erlking stops at the red light besides you or when it passes by on the Autobahn you don’t get the look of the car – no way to sketch the right dimensions or guess which new model it is.

hop: I think they never bothered to take the camouflage off the Aztek.

i agree with stephen – first poster.

the swirls and other patterns don’t seem to have enough depth to pull away from the actual detail / structure of the car.

it’s obvious to say that the image #3 is an audi, i’m guessing a8 [the profile is a bit difficult to tell from, maybe a 6], image 2 a mitsubishi, and image 4 a pontiac g class or chevy cobalt [again, guessing….]

anyway, definitely interesting concept for masking.

its not camo, its small dick syndrome. and maybe you just come across a lot of douches in chicaco, like i do in OC. this is all just for looks.

Is it BMW ?

ready.

Maybe, Audi?