The new test centre covers four floors and 3.622 m2, and will include new workshops, office space and a VIP hospitality area.

The new facility provides an extension to Hyundai’s European research and development infrastructure. Its current R&D centre in Rüsselsheim, Germany, was established in 2003 and is home to the company’s European powertrain, tuning and evaluation divisions.  Each of these will have easy access to the Nürburgring, enabling them to complete a greater number of vehicle assessments per year, including Hyundai’s “accelerated durability tests”, which simulate up to 180,000km of severe driving in a matter of weeks, to provide valuable data on a wide range of parameters.

Allan Rushforth, senior vice president and COO of Hyundai Motor 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.’

The additional capacity for testing provided by the new facility will enable Hyundai during 2013 to complete accelerated durability tests on 11 vehicles, as well as assessing steering, suspension, ride and handling characteristics to produce set-ups suited to the preferences of European drivers.