Over the weekend, I spotted a completely camouflaged BMW ActiveTourer heading into the mountains of Colorado.
Over the weekend, I spotted a completely camouflaged BMW ActiveTourer heading into the mountains of Colorado. At the same time half a world away, a TTAC reader on vacation in Germany spotted a completely camo’d 7 Series on the streets of Munich.
What gives, BMW? We’ve already seen these cars before.
Turns out the story is less exciting than what I had for breakfast.
Well, in the case of the 7 Series, the car hasn’t been revealed to the public yet. Case closed.
But our mystery 2 Series Active Tourer driving around the U.S.is a little more interesting. Spy photographer Brian Williams — who didn’t take the 7 Series shots — clears it up for us:
“In June every year BMW brings about 50-60 cars into Death Valley. From there they disperse across the US doing all kinds of different testing. The reason that prototype is still camo’d is probably because it’s just more work to take the wrap off. It’s just a lot easier for them to leave the camo on.”
This must be the first instance in recorded history of a German automaker being accused of laziness.
But it’s spy season in Colorado, however. Several manufacturers send cars up Mt. Evans — the highest road in North America — for high-altitude testing. By the time they trek up the 14,000-foot mountain, many of the cars are fairly close to production and lightly camouflaged — if at all.