Holden secures Lang Lang’s future
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Holden secures Lang Lang’s future

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By ByronGoAuto - 29 March 2016

FOR a while, it looked like Holden's Lang Lang proving ground would get the chop along with end of local manufacturing in 2017, but the automotive equivalent of Disneyland will now get an injection of cash and an upgrade, following its reprieve two years ago.

Seen as a concrete vote of confidence in the 60 year-old, 877 hectare research, development, and testing facility, the global automotive giant is undertaking a multi-million dollar investment program in the site.

That banking loop is 4.7km long, and was last resealed in the early 1990s at a cost of over one million dollars

The upgrade will include a new emissions testing lab, as part of a massive overhaul that will also see resealing work for the 4.7km high-speed loop.

The move is central in keeping vehicle powertrain calibration work for Holden, which is likely following Ford’s lead in the late 2000s by undertaking work on behalf of other automotive organisations.

It is thought that the loop was last resealed almost 25 years ago, costing some $1.2 million back then.

The VF Series II Commodore range will be the last to be built by Holden in Australia, but thankfully won’t be the last to be tuned and improved over here

However, while this ensures that Holden can continue its Engineering's contribution to GM vehicles from around the world, it does not mean that ground-up development to production validation can resume at GM Holden.

As part of the manufacturing shutdown announcement, it was revealed that Lang Lang and its associated engineering operation would be shut down and sold off, until GM International president Stefan Jacoby announced a reprieve for the proving ground.

Unfortunately, that still meant a loss of one-third of the 150 employment positions at the site. Many were test drivers and mechanics employed to rack up thousands of kilometres in durability testing – a situation that has eased off considerably with the cessation of local ground-up engineering development.

Here is an early Holden undergoing a bath in the name of better performance, durability, and reliability; picture is from about 1957

It is one of the lesser-known fallouts of the changing Australian automotive scene; with Ford and Toyota also exiting manufacturing in this country, Australia will lose its status as one of only seven nations capable of designing and building a vehicle from the ground up.

The VF Commodore, its Caprice offshoot, as well as Ford’s FG X Falcon and SZ Territory, are the last of the truly uniquely Aussie breed of cars to be born and bred here.

On the flipside, with Ford employing more engineers than ever at its Broadmeadows facility (despite closing its doors on local manufacturing this coming October 7), many people associated with the brand have their fingers crossed that GM's vehicle development program will also grow over time.

A collection of EH Holdens on the high-speed banking loop, taken in about 1963 or 1964

It all depends on the company’s global situation of course, since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 was a key factor in leading to Holden’s manufacturing demise.

Right now, about 200 engineers and technicians are on the payroll at both Lang Lang and at Holden’s Port Melbourne engineering centre; along with GM Australia Design, they provide valuable input in many of the corporation’s brands worldwide, including Chevrolet, Opel, Cadillac, and Buick.

The LH Torana of 1974 was meant to evoke the excitement (and success) of the EH, mimicking it in size after the 1965 HD started an inexorable growth spurt

Additionally, besides testing and tuning for Australian conditions, they also develop powertrain and chassis calibrations for vehicles to be sold in other countries.

This has been going on for decades, and includes the Family II four-cylinder engine program that was developed for the GM J-car in 1981 (and first seen in the 1982 JB Camira) internationally, leading to valuable export dollars for Holden, as well as the HFV6 facility that made its way into all six-cylinder Commodores from the mid-2000s VZ onwards.

Holden has long hosted club meets to commemorate special models at Lang Lang, with what appears to be a bunch of VC/VH/VK HDTs form the 1980s

More recently, the Chevrolet Trax small SUV underwent its global suspension tune at Lang Lang, while significant local input is said to have greatly improved the latest-generation Spark hatch as well as the facelifted Colorado ute and Colorado 7 due out in the third quarter of this year. Of course, there are also scores of other projects both past and present that we don’t know about, owing to the secret nature of the business.

With Holden recently announcing that 24 new or significantly revised models will be launched in Australia by 2020, it is no surprise that keeping Lang Lang open for business is a wise decision.

Perhaps, one day, the Lion brand may even be able to engineer a car from the ground-up once more. Wouldn’t that be a great development for Australia’s Own?

Byron Mathioudakis GoAuto.com.au

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