Automakers go to great lengths to hide the appearance of their future products and turn a blind eye to revealing design details. Over the decades, it has evolved into a fascinating art of deception. From masking tape and cardboard to vinyl sheets and black panels, companies have constantly improved the formula for making the car paparazzi’s life tougher.
In the early stages of testing, automakers use test models that typically don’t have their final body panels. These vehicles are usually a mix of parts from existing models combined with new components developed for future products. Although test mules usually use bodies from the same automaker, this is not always the case.
Which brings us to these photos. It’s a BMW 2002, right? That’s what Porsche wanted you to believe half a century ago. Well, if you were in the early 1970s. Zuffenhausen had the ingenious idea of cloaking the 924 using a body taken from a different car, with no connection to the Volkswagen Group.
As the 924 was Porsche’s first front-engined car, there was no previous model from which they could borrow the silhouette to disguise the prototype. So, Zuffenhausen acquired not only the BMW 2002 but also the first generation Opel Manta known as the “EA425”.
Photo by: Porsche AG
The 924 itself was a hodgepodge of VW and Audi components when it debuted in 1976 as a replacement for the 914. Porsche’s entry-level car was assembled by Audi at Neckarsum and came to life only after VW canceled its version, pursuing the Golf-based, front-wheel-drive Scirocco instead. The water-cooled, 2.0-liter four-pot engine was lifted from the Audi 100, and it wasn’t until a decade after launch that the 924S arrived with a true Porsche engine: the 2.5-liter inline four from the 944.
Test mules with borrowed carcasses still exist in 2025. Not long ago, Ferrari was spotted hiding its first EV under the shell of a Maserati Levante, complete with hilarious fake quad exhausts. You’ve probably also seen SUV test mules with a lifted body, which is why they’re based on a hatchback.
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Source: Porsche AG
Porsche, meanwhile, continues to employ clever camouflage techniques by using stickers that mimic old headlights and taillights. Most of their prototypes are black and come with extra layers of body-colored wrap to deceive the untrained eye. They even put the exhaust tips on the early Technic prototype to make people think it was just a gas-powered Panamera.
Car spy shots are older than you think. It’s actually a tradition that dates back to the 1950s. German automotive journalists Heinz Ulrich Wieselmann and Werner Oswald pioneered the practice when they published photos of unedited models. Auto, Motor and Sport. As you can imagine, automakers weren’t exactly happy to see their future products revealed to the world. Ever since, car companies have been perfecting the art of hiding development models in their work.
