RUMOUR HAS IT...
Hide and seek
Volkswagen has a massive testing facility in Upington, hidden miles away from the road
Normally we pull in rumours and pics of camouflaged cars from all over the world, but this week we are mostly focusing on Upington. Yes, Upington, the town in the Northern Cape that is a long way from the testing regions of Nevada, the Arctic Circle or even Munich. Upington is a big town on the map of global vehicle testing. The Volkswagen Group has a massive testing facility there, hidden miles away from the road with no visible entrance or signage. In fact, until a couple of years ago the facility was blacked out on Google Earth — that’s how secret it is. At any one time there are about 150 future models on test there — and we are talking VW Group cars. That means everything from the VW Up to the Bugatti Chiron and all sorts in between from Porsche and Seat to Skoda, Lamborghini and Bentley. We have never been to the facility. As far as we know, no-one outside of those who need to know have been there. Certainly no member of the motoring media. Rumour has it that if you try, you w...
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