Ford Oz proving ground turns 50

Ford Australia is today marking the 50th birthday of its You Yangs Proving Ground (YYPG), after turning its back on significant milestones for its Australian manufacturing operations and the Falcon this year.

In an attempt to divert attention away from the cessation of local car-making and onto its future as a full-line importer and global vehicle developer, Ford Australia today threw open the doors of its normally covert R&D facility to celebrate its 50th anniversary with media.

The 930-hectare facility at Lara near Geelong in Victoria opened in 1965 – five years after Australia's then prime minister Sir Robert Menzies opened Ford's Broadmeadows factory to produce the Falcon more than 55 years ago in 1960.

Sales of Ford's oldest surviving nameplate — including the latest, eighth-generation FG X Falcon — are now at historical lows in the lead up to production ceasing for good on October 16 next year, by which time Ford's local manufacturing operations will have spanned more than 91 years.

In fact, while Ford vehicles have been sold Down Under since 1904, the Ford Motor Company of Australia was established on March 31, 1925 – when the car-maker's Geelong Automotive Manufacturing Operations also opened -- but both 90th anniversaries and the Falcon's 55th birthday went unnoticed earlier this year.

Today, Ford marked 50 years YYPG operations by celebrating the arrival of the first global Mustang alongside an original 1967 Ford Falcon XR GT — the first Australian-developed GT performance sedan engineered and tested at the proving ground.

“The advertising catchphrase promoting the 1967 Ford Falcon XR GT was ‘the Mustang-bred Falcon’ so it’s appropriate to have the 1967 car as part of our celebrations,” said Ford President and CEO, Graeme Whickman.

Whickman said the 50th birthday celebration of the YYPG — where the Ranger, Everest and a number of other unnamed global vehicles were developed – marks Ford's commitment to Australia as a vehicle design and engineering hub.

While GM Holden will retain its design studio and a small number of engineers at its Lang Lang Proving Ground, which opened about eight years earlier in 1957, Ford will continue to employ 1500 staff including more than 1100 designers and engineers at its Australian R&D facilities in Melbourne and Geelong, which it describes as centres of excellence for the Asia Pacific (AP) Region.

Ford, which will be the first of Australia's remaining three car-makers to cease manufacturing next year, says it will be Australia's biggest automotive employer post-2017 – when Holden and Toyota cease local car-making -- and plans to introduce 20 new models by 2020.

"It’s also important to celebrate this milestone and highlight the continuing role the You Yangs Proving Ground will play not only in its immediate community but also Ford Australia going forward," said Whickman.

“The proving ground, the $27 million Geelong Research and Development Centre and the Asia-Pacific Engineering Centre in Campbellfield – including the Design Centre – are instrumental as part of Ford’s on-going investment story as the company continues to build its capability as an innovator and centre of excellence for the Asia Pacific region post-2017.

“In 2015 alone, Ford has spent around $300 million on R&D, bringing to $2 billion the amount of money spent on R&D over the past six years,” Whickman said.

Ford will not reveal which Asia Pacific or global models it developed in Australia apart from the Everest and Ranger, which is now sold in more than 180 markets around the world, but they are known to include the Fiesta-based, Indian-built Figo light hatch and the Chinese-market Taurus large sedan and Escort small car.

“Most recently the YYPG was used to help the development testing of the acclaimed Ford Everest, which is receiving rave reviews by auto media around the country,” Whickman said.

“We’re very proud of the fact that the Ford team in Australia has been recognised as the ‘go to guys’ for vehicle development."

Situated near the You Yangs National Park in Lara, about 50km south-west of Melbourne, the proving ground currently employs around 300 engineers, technicians and support staff, and its landscape is now dominated by a large new office building that replaces the portable buildings added previously to handle the expanded workload.

The YYPG, which hosted a record-breaking 112,600km (70,000-mile) endurance run for the 1965 Falcon XP soon after it opened, is home to key vehicle attribute teams within Ford’s Product Development group.

It comprises more than 80km of roads, tracks and other surfaces to test the ride, handling, noise, vibration, harshness and dust and water resistance of its vehicles.

Vehicle-level attributes tested at YYPG — which is just 26km from Ford's Geelong R&D centre and doomed stamping and engine plant — include target setting, development, calibration, validation and sign-off, while durability attributes include structural, powertrain, corrosion and fit for purpose.

Facilities include the Advanced Centre for Automotive Research and Testing (ACART) 250km/h wind tunnel, a Vehicle Semi-Anechoic Chamber (VSAC) open-road simulator, a Kinematics & Compliance suspension rig, and crash-test centre.

Its four primary buildings include the Operations Building, Vehicle Refinement and Dynamics Centre (VRDC), Emissions Laboratory and Powertrain Development buildings.

Together, they incorporate hoists, pits and workstations, a welding station, crack-testing facility, shock absorber measurement facility, weighbridge with four independent stations (each rated at 5000kg), electronic wheel alignment hoist and secure storage for vehicles and test parts.

Outside, there's the three-lane reinforced concrete 4.8km Constant Speed Track, the 3.6km Basic Durability Road, a 5km all-weather Unimproved Road, Off-Road Road, Brake Test Road, 27-metre Mud or Salt Bath, dry and wet skid pans, 45-metre Water Bath, 200mm-deep Sand Pit, 760-metre Special Surfaces Road featuring pot-holes and cobblestones, Dust Test Road and Corrosion Test Tracks including Salt spray highway and Stone Peck Road.