New Car Road Testing - Spy Shots - How to Spot Disguised New Cars being Driven

Over the last few years I've seen a number of new cars on the roads being driven with various levels of disguise presumably for real life road tests prior to launch. It appears that as we are close to the Delphi Diesel site in Kent that some cars are being tested with their components.

Kia Sportage 2010 Spy Shot

   Often cars are fitted with additional panels to cover how the final shape and design will look. This car was spotted in Gillingham Kent in July 2009 and subsequently proved to be the new 2010 Kia Sportage being test driven.


As you can see in the shot above the car is disguised with additional padding/panels to hide the contours and all badges and markings have been removed.
The final production version of the 2010 Kia Sportage is below and you can see the similarity in the lines and detail such as the indicators on wing mirrors.

Kia Sportage final production model


While out recently I spotted this vehicle again with some form of disguise, this time more limited and gaffer tape covering some key areas such as headlights. Again all markings on the vehicle had been removed. This was being tested by Delphi Diesel systems.