Former Lang Lang Holden test track makes $36.3m in massive deal
Holden’s former Lang Lang test track sold for a whopping $36.3m in 2020.
US automotive giant General Motors (GM) collected a whopping $36.3m selling the former Holden Lang Lang proving ground after ending the iconic Aussie brand last year.
The 877ha test track in Victoria’s south east opened in 1957 and was used to test everything from the old Kingswood in the 1970s to modern day Commodores and Astras.
It was quietly listed for sale in mid 2020, after parent company GM announced the end of the Holden brand in February last year.
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A GM spokesman said they continued to employ 200 people in Australia under the Holden Aftersales, GM Specialty Vehicles and ACDelco banners.
“When GM took the difficult decision to retire the Holden brand and restructure operations in Thailand, the company recorded a charge of $1.1bn net of any asset sales,” they said.
“The proceeds from asset sales related to the Holden business remained in Australia.”
A copy of the leaked listing brochure.
A GMH car going through the water trap at General Motors-Holden’s proving ground at Lang Lang, Victoria, 11 Feb 1958.
A few months after it was listed, Vietnamese automakers VinFast purchased the test site, which got an almost $16m upgrade to its track and emissions lab in 2018.
A spokesman said after taking ownership of the Lang Lang site in November they had begun building the site’s capabilities and capacity to suit a “wide range of development, test and validation”. The company’s future range will include electric and petrol-powered cars ranging from small to mid and large-sized SUVs.
There’s even scope GM vehicles could wind up back on the track, with VinFast looking at opening the facility to testing for external companies.
The Southeast Asian car producers opened a research and development centre in Melbourne, but announced its temporary closure in May.
A Holden Astra sedan being assessed at the Lang Lang site in 2016.
A Holden Commodore in camouflage being tested at the proving ground in 2018.
The proving ground’s listing only came to light when a brochure from commercial property sales agents at CBRE was leaked, and its price remained concealed until a Victorian Valuer-General report that captures all sales disclosed to the state revenue office reported the $33.6m sale of a motor racing track in Bass Coast Shire last year.
It wasn’t the only racing track sold in Victoria in 2020, according to the valuer general.
Melbourne dragracer Lance Warren was behind the wheel for the purchase of the Heathcote Park Raceway in Knowsley near Bendigo, with associates indicating he has plans to upgrade it and get revheads back in droves before the end of 2021.
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