Forget that for a few people, the 5 Series Gran Turismo looked better with the camouflage than without it. The takeaway from this video is the length that BMW went to hide the vehicle's lines, interior, and even what the door handles looked like while the car was undergoing testing on public roads.
You know the company is serious when it has engineers designing fake body panels that are formed from plastic and screwed onto the car’s bodywork. It’s also no cheap and easy thing to design and fabricate a form-fitting cover for the dash and instrument panel. And why is it so important to print a photorealistic vinyl graphic to cover the door handle?
The point of camouflage can't be to hide the looks of the car from us, the motoring public and future customers. The more we see of the real thing the more excited we get. We surmise that the intent is to hide the car’s details from BMW’s competition. We have watched as other carmakers have copied BMW designs for decades. Therefore, we think the purpose of the camouflage is to help ensure that the copying takes place later—like two or three years later—rather than two or three months. Or maybe BMW just enjoys keeping secrets.
Finally, although the sight and sound of sheet metal screws ripping into the body of a new BMW is like fingernails on a chalkboard to us, remember that these test cars are destined for the crusher after BMW learns all they need to from them. Not that we would take delight from seeing a 5 Series GT being crushed. Well, maybe the last three feet of it.—Scott Blazey
[Photo and video courtesy of Car TV.]
