China’s GWM is pushing its case as the ‘most Australian’ new car brand, backing up its signing of Holden’s former chassis guru with a new deal to develop its future models at Holden’s former proving ground.
GWM has announced a “permanent residency” at the Lang Lang Proving Grounds (LLPG) just south of Melbourne. The facility, which has over 44km of roads as well as an array of engineering facilities, was the home base for developing every locally-made Holden from the FC to the VF Commodore, will now be home base for GWM to ‘Aussify’ its vehicles to better suit Australian conditions and driver tastes.
The decision to take a permanent spot at Lang Lang, which appears to still be owned by Vinfast, comes off the back of GWM hiring veteran Holden engineer, Rob Trubiani. The long-time Holden chassis engineer has been charged with enhancing the ride and handling of GWM models across all of its brands.
The deal gives Trubiani the opportunity to return to familiar ground, where he will be able to benchmark GWM products against Holden models that he played a key role in developing at the same facility.
“Lang Lang is an iconic proving ground, one of the best in the world,” Trubiani said. “It’s an absolute dream to be back, developing great cars specifically for Australian and New Zealand drivers. I know this track like the back of my hand, having spent a considerable amount of my career here with Holden. The intimate knowledge I have of the road network, combined with understanding the high-performance benchmarks required here, is key to ‘Aussifying’ our vehicles and ensuring what we develop here translates directly to real-world driving. LLPG provides me the ability to push vehicle dynamics to the edge, identifying precisely where we can optimise and improve. We’re not just tweaking cars, we’re transforming them to deliver the confidence, control, and comfort that local drivers deserve.”
GWM Chief Operating Officer, John Kett, said the deal to take up residency at Lang Lang was one of Trubiani’s first ideas to help the brand. It’s part of GWM’s goal to cement its place inside the top 10 selling brands in Australia.
“With full-time access to Lang Lang now secured, this is far more than symbolic, it’s a statement of intent,” Kett explained. “When Rob presented the idea of establishing Lang Lang as our home base for local development, it was met with overwhelming support, both locally and from our global leadership. Rob has been relentless in defining what the true GWM feel should be for our markets, and with the right tools now in place, we’re confident this investment will deliver improved products right here on home soil.”
GWM confirmed that the first products of Trubiani’s work will be revealed in the “coming months”. The so-called ‘AT1’ is set to roll-out across multiple vehicles and will “demonstrate the ride and handling enhancements shaped by feedback from the local market.”
GWM is clearly hoping that the legacy of Holden and its knowledge of the Australian market will be enough to help sure up its local future as one of the leading Chinese brands.
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