Wired Magazine reports:
Imagine you’re an automaker with a killer car in the works. Now imagine that some snoop gets a picture of the prototype on a test track and posts it on the Web. If the public loves the car, competitors will ape its design and steal your thunder. If people hate it, the thing becomes a punch line before it’s even released. Your stock takes a hit, executives demand more R&D, publicists spontaneously combust, and an angry mob of board members storms HQ.
OK, maybe that’s a bit extreme (except for the publicist part), but automotive design is war, and the battles are getting tougher. The first line of defense? Camouflage. “We’ve always protected our prototypes,” says Lionel Perkins, GM’s car-camo specialist. “But digital cameras and blogs have made everything crazy...”
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