Hyundai's i20 WRC, with which it plans to return to the World Rally Championship, has run for the first time in Europe.
The car, produced in South Korea and first unveiled in September, was flown into Germany for two days at an ADAC test center outside Frankfurt early last week.
Journalists from across Europe were invited to sample the i20 WRC show car. Work on the actual World Rally Car will be getting underway soon, with the company absolutely committed to starting the 2014 World Rally Championship.
This is the first sighting of the car since the Paris Motorshow, where the program was launched. The next major developments in the manufacturer's first WRC effort since 2003 will be announced at the Geneva show in March.
"We wanted to keep the story moving," explained a Hyundai spokesman. "We realized there was nothing since Paris, which is why we wanted to organize everything to fly the car into Europe to show what we have done and the direction we are moving in. This is a way of showing our commitment to the World Rally Championship."