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.

Honda to build subcompact cars in Mexico

Honda Motor Co. said Friday it will build an $800 million assembly plant in Mexico to produce subcompact vehicles for the Mexican and North American markets. The Japanese automaker said the plant is scheduled to begin operation in 2014 with an annual capacity of 200,000 units.

BMW Alpina B6 Bi-Turbo Convertible (2011) at the Frankfurt motor show

BMW’s M Division is busy readying M6 variants of both the 6-series Coupe and Convertible, but if you can’t wait until 2012 – or if you want a fast but understated Six – then Alpina has just the car for you. It’s the BMW Alpina B6 Bi-Turbo Convertible, just unveiled at the 2011 Frankfurt motor show. And I’m guessing the BMW Alpina B6 Bi-Turbo Convertible does exactly what is says on the tin?