The birthplace of 60 years of Holdens made in Australia could soon be owned by a Chinese car makers with big ambitions for the local market.
The former Holden test track south-east of Melbourne could be purchased by Chinese car giant GWM, four years after current owners VinFast placed the property back on the market.
GWM took up permanent residency at the 877-hectare (2167-acre) site earlier this year as part of a program to tune the driving characteristics of its cars to better suit local roads, led by former top Holden engineer Rob Trubiani.
"Yes, we are considering to purchase this ground," GWM chief technology officer Nicole Wu told Australian and international media this week.
"Even if we don't buy it, we can use [it]. But yes, if we buy it, it will be an advantage to make very good, useful [for us]. We are considering [buying Lang Lang] sincerely – we need to consider it as a business [case]."
She said GWM is already discussing the price of the facility, which has struggled to sell since it was purchased from General Motors by Vietnamese car maker VinFast in 2020.
"To be honest, we are negotiating about the price. It's not expensive compared with what we have in China and other countries – we just need to evaluate the business [case]," Wu said.
"Currently we can use this proving ground, we can do testing inside ... We also test vehicles outside of the proving ground, on the public roads, then we also have facilities in China. We also do tests in the Middle East, in Siberia [Russia]."
The Lang Lang proving ground was opened by General Motors in 1957, and has been used to engineer and test hundreds of Holdens – including every generation of Commodore, locally-built and imported – until the lion brand was retired in 2020.
It was sold to VinFast in September 2020 for a reported $36.3 million, Victorian Government documents show, after what was understood to be a failed bid from transport magnate Lindsay Fox.
The Vietnamese company placed the site back on the market 12 months later, but it has failed to sell. VinFast signage remains at the gates of the facility.
GWM is the most natural candidate to purchase Lang Lang, given it is using it as the hub of its new local tuning operations, calibrating the suspension and steering of its vehicles for Australian roads.
Led by Trubiani – who worked on the ride and handling of the final 20 years of Commodores, among other critical Holden models – the first GWM vehicles with Australian-tuned components are due to enter production in China next month.
"To provide the local people with a productive vehicle, local optimisation is quite important," Wu said.
"There are two points ... The first thing you need to have is the rental of the proving ground. And secondly, you have the talent who knows how to use the proving ground – and we have Rob Trubiani.
"We are lucky to have him; I think he's a legend. He'll help us to know what are the Australian requirements, and he'll help us to fine-tune our vehicles to make [them] even better ... for the local people."
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
