New Hyundai Test Centre at the Nurburgring revealed

Hyundai’s new test centre at the Nurburgring

If anyone had said, just a few years ago, that Hyundai would develop a test centre at the Nurburgring to help shake-down their cars, they’d have been laughed at.

But Hyundai – and Kia – have come so far in recent years that it makes absolute sense for them to develop a full-time testing facility at the Nurburgring to test their cars for the road, along with just about every other car maker of note.

James May may object to the Nurburgring factor in the suspension set-ups of many road cars (and we do have some sympathy for his point of view), but the sometimes extreme nature of the Nurburgring’s surfaces – and its endless twists and turns, uphill and down – do offer car makers an easily accessible place to test cars in the (almost) real world.

Due for completion in August, Hyundai’s test centre cover four floors and 3600 square metres including VIP hospitality areas and workshops, and is wrapped in a glass and metallic finish.

The new centre is easily accessible for Hyundai’s R&D centre in Rüsselsheim where Hyundai has powertrain, tuning and evaluation divisions, all of which will be able to make the most of the Nurburgring to complete far more vehicle assessments, including their ‘Accelerated Durability’ tests which simulates 180k kilometres of severe driving in just a few weeks.

Alan Rushforth, Hyundai’s main man in Europe, said:

Quality is one of Hyundai’s core values and it is key to achieving customer satisfaction.  The Nürburgring is the ultimate location to test vehicle durability, and we’re able to apply what we learn there to all of our vehicle development projects.

Our new facility will increase our testing capacity, bringing direct benefits to our customers in terms of vehicle quality and performance.

Let’s hope the new Nurburgring jaunt by Hyundai leads to more performance cars that handle well without forcing you to buy a season ticket to the chiropractors.

By Cars UK