Ex-Holden proving ground sold to defence contractor

The Lang Lang Proving Ground in Victoria has been sold to its third owner, with Chinese automaker GWM missing out to an Australian defence contractor, creating a ‘speed bump’ in the brand’s local chassis tuning program.

The buyer, which is yet to be publicly named, will be the third owner of the sprawling 877-hectare (2167-acre) proving ground, which was purpose-built by General Motors (GM) and opened in 1957, before being sold to Vietnamese automaker VinFast in 2020 when GM axed the Holden brand.

Lang Lang had been on the market since 2021 after VinFast abandoned plans to enter Australia's new-vehicle market.

The sale will end product development work for several automotive brands and engineering firms at the site, potentially leaving some scrambling to find an alternative location.

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Most notably, GWM took up permanent residency at Lang Lang in 2025, hiring former Holden chassis engineer Rob Trubiani to develop local suspension and steering tunes for its Australian model lineup.

The company had considered purchasing the venue outright and, while that didn’t eventuate, it told CarExpert it wanted to continue its residency to support local development work.

It appears the Chinese automaker has not been offered the opportunity to remain at the site.

“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 after the middle of May,” GWM Australia chief operating officer John Kett told CarExpert.

“While this is disappointing, we have accepted the decision and are now in the process of making alternative plans.”

The new owner will take over operations later this month at the historic venue, which is currently one of three active automotive proving grounds in Australia.

The others, both in Victoria, are Ford Australia’s You Yangs Proving Ground at Lara and the Australian Automotive Research Centre (AARC) near Anglesea.

GWM also has testing facilities in Siberia, the Middle East and China, however, its departure from Lang Lang leaves it without a closed R&D site in South East Asia.

“It was always the intention to use Lang Lang as our base to bring AT-1 [Australian Tune] tuning to the current GWM lineup and, for the most part, that has been achieved,” Mr Kett said.

“While the sale of Lang Lang has delivered a minor ‘speed bump’ 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.

“This new facility will be furnished with all the necessary equipment for Rob Trubiani to continue the AT-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 first locally tuned GWM model to reach showrooms was the Haval H6 mid-size SUV, a rival to the Toyota RAV4 and Mazda CX-5, with Australian-tuned examples going on sale in late 2025.

“It’s important to recognise that in the 10 months since we took up residency, our AT-1 local tuning efforts have made significant progress,” Mr Kett added.

“In addition to the AT-1-tuned Haval H6 now being on sale, work has also been completed on several other models which are due to reach showrooms over the coming weeks and months.”

Among other companies to use the Lang Lang Proving Ground was JAC, which developed local suspension tunes for its T9 and Hunter utes at the former Holden site.

Numerous other car companies have also hired the venue to host media and dealer events, including CarExpert.

“Lang Lang has played a core part in CarExpert’s extensive, industry-leading testing of new vehicles to validate manufacturer claims,” said CarExpert co-founder and YouTube host Paul Maric.

“We’re disappointed automotive testing won’t be the core focus of the facility moving forward, but we’re looking forward to announcing our future plans regarding a test venue shortly.”

Melbourne-based Walkinshaw Automotive Group, which engineers and remanufactures right-hand drive versions of the Ram 1500, 2500 and 3500, Chevrolet Silverado and Toyota Tundra pickups for the Australian market, has also regularly used the site.

Cross-town engineering firm Premcar – responsible for hardcore off-road models such as the Nissan Patrol Warrior and Mitsubishi Triton Raider – has also used Lang Lang to test and develop suspension and steering systems, among other components.

MORE: GWM Australia fixed chassis tuning that was “not good”, and its updates are going global