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Tagged: digital-paper, digital-screen, e-ink
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Is vehicle wrapping dead?
Posted by Pane Talev on January 13, 2023 at 10:00 amJeff replied 11 months, 3 weeks ago 10 Members · 18 Replies -
18 Replies
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It’s moved on – last year they could only manage greyscale colour change now it’s in colour
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It would make a great getaway car. Imagine being chased by the Filth, pull into an alley way change the colour then pull away again . Plod would drive right past you non the wiser…
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hahaha!!
I heard someone say Rozzers the other day, that made me chuckle, as does a guy at my gym who has a colourful past, he walls them The PoPo!!
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I love seeing innovative things like this, even though it will “definitely” overshadow a certain amount of desire for a car wrap in the next couple of years.
Last year when I posted the news of BMW offering the “black and white” version, I watched how many of the wrappers around the world scoffed at me even suggesting it will. I get it, It is not a nice thing to see a threat to your lively hood, but It 100% will create a dent in our industry.This will not hit the car manufacturing lines for at least 2-3 years and I imagine it will initially be limited to certain models only. but like most things, BMW and E-Ink will then licence this technology to all the other manufacturers until the market is eventually swamped.
Obviously, this is only IF they go ahead and begin manufacturing this. At the moment, this is most likely all about “marketing” and being seen to be the first to do this globally. Clearly what we are looking at is a prototype with polyester e-ink film adhered to the surface of the vehicle. if you look closely at my attachment, you can see the film is kinking and is only laid on the surface and not actually part of the car. the same thing was visible, but worse, with the black-and-white version last year.
I imagine this is all “look at us” marketing, but also about finding out if there is a real demand for it by the general public, before moving to the production lines. Time will tell! 🤓-
Its great showcase & demonstrator for tech.
But in reality, a completely colour changing car will never be road legal, it will be limited as a marketing tool in showrooms.
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I accept that this goes against the grain legally in the UK, mate.
But cars are already easily changeable due to vinyl graphics and wraps. I bet more than 50% of wrapped vehicles in the UK alone, arent registered with the DVLA and more so with commercial vehicles with digital printed advertising.
We are already living in a world with shops that no longer require staff, where you can walk into a shop and back out with goods, and be automatically debited. Where just driving through certain areas gets your car automatically billed for the penalty. With all the new electical cars and trucks that now can drive themselves, i think it is safe to say that identification of a vehcile through its colour may well be irrelvant in the not to distant future.
If the legality of the changing colour via fancy sequencies and patterns is going to be termed as a visual distraction, i agree there too. but it might just be the case that the colour transitions and graphics choices will only work while the car is stationary.
I cannot see one of the worlds biggest car manufactures not haven taken the legality of a colour changing car into consideration, or that they have not been quized by the public or indeed their competitors, on this very question.-
Oh I don’t disagree this will happen one day – but not until Police Forces make changes – if a vehicle is reported as ‘a red car speeding away from crime scene’, that can then turn blue with black stripes, its never going to become available for all to use, the misuse opportunities is just to great.
I can see said Police Forces investing into this tech themselves! That black unmarked car behind you suddenly transforms into a marked vehicle, or simple being able to display messages would be of use to them.
As a tech demonstrator this is amazing, and I’m sure they will continue (I can see track & F1 cars using this to display more adverts!).
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amazing, just shows you when you think wrapping is cool, this comes along. 😃
i don’t think BMW will have spent all this time and money on something like this without taking the legality into account. plus, the UK is a tiny market in comparison to most other countries.
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i can’t help but think, that if this was just a marketing gimmick then they would be using something like CGI or whatever clever things they can do nowadays to make something look real. but this is actually on the car.
i think it is amazing but also a bit cheap and young boy racer looking. would i want to be sitting at the traffic lights with a flashing colour changing car, with my shopping on the back seat? no thanks! 😬🤣 -
Even if this takes off, at a price affordable to the masses, there will be a huge aftermarket demand for installing this electronic skin. So wrappers will be even busier.
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initially I would assume the big car co’s would do it in house as part of production, or at the dealership. Long term it probably won’t take the Chinese to copy it and sell it in ways we can fit ourselves!
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E-Ink is the technology behind this, the same tech that is behind the Amazon Kindle screen.
The principle of this concept is what is interesting to me, not so much “the look” because as Karen rightly points out. This is more of a fun zany cool concept that may, at the end of the day, not appeal to the masses.I think those behind E-ink are the ones in the driving seat, pardon the pun!
Imagine something like this on a Ford Transit Van, with your company graphics and text on the side, changing the advert or deal at your leisure. This, I would see as more desirable and lucrative than a car.
The extra bolt-on costs would be tax deductible as it is your company’s advertising.With regards to aftermarket and installing this type of thing. Yes, if anyone will be able to install this onto the surface, it will be a wrapper. However, there will be some form of sensitive wiring being led to a power source somewhere, from every panel on the car. I imagine car washes, doors, bonnets, opening and closing will lead to continual expensive malfunctions and deterioration of the product if not installed 100%.
Again, E-ink may offer directly to the public via a “Magnetic panel with an E-ink surface”.
Just like we buy in the roll of magnetic now, but fit vinyl to the face and place it on a car door or the side panel of a van. You now have your own E-ink advertising panel that you can change and update as you wish and bought directly via Amazon. Right there is another dent in the wrapping and vinyl graphics market, and there are zero legality issues with that!Am I worried about this concept? Not at all, I think it keeps us on our toes, keeps the thought juices pumping and is exciting to see where things are heading.
Am I worried about it devaluing the wrapping and graphics industry? Well, I have more concerns about that being done by Wrapping and Graphics industry “itself”, than this new concept. -
Hi Colin
It is crazy, how every surface is changing into possible advertising space or for personalisation purposes.
This is another fabric one by Philips, we featured this story on UKSB 14 years ago.
https://youtu.be/2l8jpZQk0Rc?si=P1ueQlQhA_A8sA4X -
wrapping is never dead. i see more and more stuff getting wrapped all the time.
the colour changing cars are really cool but that will be priced as a luxury extra and at what cost??? 🙄
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