The test facility once home to six decades of Australian-developed Holdens – and more recently, Chinese and Vietnamese cars – has been sold after five years on the market.
The former Holden test track in Victoria has been sold to its third owner five years after its current custodian – which purchased the property from General Motors in 2020 for $36.3 million – looked to move the facility on.
The buyer of the Lang Lang proving ground 90km south-east of Melbourne – home to every Australian-developed Holden since 1957 – is yet to come forward to confirm its purchase of the 877-hectare site.
However, documents published as part of the sale, seen by Drive, indicate it has been purchased by a holding company representing Australia-based military contractor DefendTex.
The sale will force Chinese car maker GWM – which took up residency at Lang Lang in 2025, and hired former Holden engineer Rob Trubiani, to tailor its cars for Australian roads – to search for a new engineering base.
The future of Lang Lang for other automotive operations – including vehicle testing by brands outside GWM – is yet to be confirmed, but in doubt.
Lang Lang was sold by owner and constructor General Motors to Vietnamese car maker VinFast in 2020 for a reported $36.3 million, as part of the closure of the Holden brand in Australia.
The proving ground went back on the market in 2021, as VinFast announced it would shutter its local vehicle development operations after less than 12 months in operation.
It has struggled to sell in the years since, and VinFast has leased time at the facility to car brands such as BYD and JAC for development work or, in other cases, media launch events.
Victorian Government documents show a purchase contract has been lodged between VinFast and Redhawke Capital Investments, a holding company that owns a stake in, is run by the founder of, and is located at the same address as DefendTex.
The Melbourne-based contractor produces unmanned vehicles – such as drones and miniaturised remote-controlled buggies – for the defence industry, among other products, and its website shows it has previously tested at Lang Lang.
GWM last year revealed it was considering a purchase of the Lang Lang facility, after hiring Trubiani – the former top Holden engineer who oversaw the driving character of the final 20 years of Commodores – to tune its vehicles' suspension and steering for local roads.
It appears any bid it may have placed did not succeed, and the brand says it is now searching for a new location to conduct its engineering work.
"As a result of the sale of the Lang Lang Proving Ground, GWM were advised that they would no longer be able to use the facility post mid May," GWM Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) chief operating officer John Kett said in a media statement.
Kett said the sale of Lang Lang "has delivered a minor 'speedbump' in our local development plans".
"We are already well advanced in making alternative plans for a dedicated facility in Melbourne that will become GWM’s home for dealer training and product testing, and development," he said in the written statement.
"This new facility will be furnished with all the necessary equipment for Rob Trubiani to continue the AT-1 [Australian Tune 1] localisation program and we remain 100 per cent committed to local tuning and development to deliver the best possible cars for customers across the ANZ region.
"We look forward to sharing more details in the not-too-distant future."
The other major automotive development facility in Victoria not owned by a car manufacturer is the Australian Automotive Research Centre (AARC) near Anglesea, 125km south-west of Melbourne.
While the site is used frequently by Toyota, it is owned by Lindsay Fox's trucking giant Linfox.
Ford owns and operates a proving ground at You Yangs, 70km west of Melbourne's CBD, where it has developed the Ranger ute and Everest SUV, among other models, for global markets.
Lang Lang is home to 44km of roads – across sealed and unsealed – including a high-speed circuit for suspension and steering development, gravel tracks, off-road courses, and a skidpan.
About 18km of fencing surrounds the facility – as well as considerable bushland home to native flora and fauna – to cover future models from prying eyes.
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
