Automakers seek marketing boost from prototypes at Goodwood

Traditionally automakers go to great lengths to hide prototypes of future cars from the public. That tactic has put great value on pictures taken during testing, so-called spy shots, which get printed in magazines and online.

But automakers concluded that these early hints of what a new model will like look help to build excitement of the model's launch. Now their marketing departments are exploiting that by finding new ways to provide the public with their own spy shots.

This was very evident at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed, taking place this weekend in the UK , where prototypes form as much as part of the new-car excitement as launches of new models such as the Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Volante and the McLaren GT.

Goodwood started with the event's organizer, Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, the 11th Duke of Richmond, driving a disguised prototype of the upcoming Land Rover Defender up the event's signature 2-km hillclimb route.

Spectators watching from the grandstands could also see Aston Martin's DBX SUV, again in disguised prototype form, in action. Same for the Honda E electric city-car prototype, this time undisguised.

It went on. Not only could spectators watch a camouflaged version of Porsche's upcoming Taycan electric sedan being driven (by former Formula 1 star Mark Webber), they could see a virtually undisguised version parked near the Porsche stand.

Well, almost. This Taycan was placed in a special box that had slits cut into it, so when show-goers peered through one of them, they could see a different detail of the car. But when they tried to take a picture, the special double-glass construction of the spy holes meant all they see in the photo was their camera reflected back at them.

Lotus meanwhile offered spectators a teaser view of its new electric hypercar, named Evija, ahead of its unveil on July 16. Those interested queued at the side of Lotus's stand at the appointed hour, had their smartphones and cameras placed into a sealed bag, and were shown the car inside amid flashing lights to disguise it.

Not everything has changed however. What all these cars have in common is they are not directly replacing a model currently in production. Automakers do not mind teasing a nameplate that is new to their range, or in the case of the Defender, replaces a model that has already been discontinued.