- GWM takes up permanent residence at famous Lang Lang proving ground.
- Rob Trubiani worked there for Holden for 15 years... now he's back.
- New programme to localise GWM models' ride and handling, codenamed AT1.
The Australian distributor of Chinese brand GWM (Cannon utes, Haval SUVs, Tank 4x4s and Ora EVs) has proudly announced it's taken up permanent residence at Lang Lang, Holden's former proving ground near Melbourne, which it built in 1958 and used right up until the brand was discontinued in 2020.
However, it's more like a homecoming for one GWM executive. Rob Trubiani, GWM's Australian product engineering manager since April, was formerly Holden's lead engineer and spent much of his working life at Lang Lang, from 1996-2020.
Trubiani's brief at GWM is to tune its products to better suit the region, including Australia and NZ. Lang Lang Proving Ground (LLPG) is where he will do much of the work.
“Lang Lang is an iconic proving ground, one of the best in the world,” says Trubiani. “It’s an absolute dream to be back, developing great cars specifically for Australian and NZ 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.”
“With full-time access to Lang Lang now secured, this is far more than symbolic, it’s a statement of intent,” says John Kett, GWM COO ANZ. “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 says it plans to "showcase the results of Mr Trubiani’s work across multiple vehicle platforms" in a programme codenamed AT1. It will "demonstrate the ride and handling enhancements shaped by feedback from the local market".
