In a £4.5m (€5.5m) project Hyundai is building a new vehicle test center at the Nurburgring track in Germany. The legendary track, as you know, is where almost all high-performance cars are developed and tested. That begs the question, what is Hyundai doing there?

Well, Hyundai says the Nuburgring center will be used by engineers at the company’s existing R&D center in Rüsselsheim, Germany, to improve the quality and driving performance of Hyundai’s European-designed vehicles. This past couple of years they’ve been making more and more European models, and figured in order to tune their cars based on the European taste, they need to hit the ‘Ring.

It could be also be part of a long-term preparation plan for Hyundai to enter the world of high-performance vehicles. A few years ago they came up with the Genesis Coupe; a sports car that came out of nowhere and quickly became a performance icon. Who knows what they have in mind for the next generation of this car.

Hyundai is also engaging more seriously in various Motorsport activities. They are back in the WRC, and have dominated the Pikes Peak for the past few years. Maybe track racing is the next frontier.