General Motors Proving Grounds

General Motors operates several proving grounds.

North America

Desert Proving Ground Yuma

32°55′11″N 114°19′24″W / 32.919818°N 114.323366°W / 32.919818; -114.323366

General Motors Desert Proving Ground in Yuma County, Arizona

Desert Proving Ground Yuma is a facility co-built and leased by General Motors located within the US Army's Yuma Proving Grounds, near Yuma, Arizona. The facility came fully online as of July 2009. The site contains an inner facility sitting on 2,400 acres (970 ha) with a 24-acre (9.7 ha) campus containing 98,000 square feet (9,100 m2) of building area and also has 40 miles of roadway. One of the main reasons that this site was chosen was the already imposed no fly zone which helps prevent unwanted photography of pre-production prototypes undergoing testing. The facility is also used by the US Army for their own testing requirements.[1]

Other such features are:

  • 3.5-mile circle track (3 lanes)
  • 1.4-mile straight track (2–3 lanes)
  • 3.1-mile Ride Road (2–4 lanes)
  • 1,000’ × 1,000’ Dynamics Pad
  • Interior Noise Road
  • Noise Pass-by Facility
  • Misc. grades
  • 72,000-square-foot (6,700 m2) main building
  • Garage (40 hoists)
  • Office (120 residents/visitors)
  • Product Electronics/Instrumentation Lab
  • Alignment/Tire facilities
  • Transmission Build Room
  • Machine/Fab shop
  • Parts Crib
  • Warehouse 14,000 square feet (1,300 m2)
  • Sundrella (40 hoists)
  • Covered parking
  • Fuel facility
  • Car wash
  • Scale House / Ballast Station

Milford Proving Ground

42°35′01″N 83°41′04″W / 42.583603°N 83.684449°W / 42.583603; -83.684449

Aerial photograph of the GM proving grounds in Michigan

The General Motors Milford Proving Ground was the industry's first dedicated automobile testing facility when it opened in 1924. It is located in Milford, Michigan and covers 4,000 acres (16 km²). 4,800 staff work in its 107 buildings today. The proving ground includes the equivalent of 132 mi (212 km) of roads representative of conditions found on public roadways and other specialty surfaces for vehicle testing. Some roads are open only to drivers who have passed special performance driving training. The saying goes that each mile driven on the grounds is the same as 5 miles (8.0 km) in the real world.

Facilities
Milford Proving Ground main gate, General Motors Rd.

Cupuán Proving Ground

18°46′59″N 102°10′07″W / 18.783056°N 102.168611°W / 18.783056; -102.168611

General Motors Proving Ground Cupuan del Rio is situated between Lázaro Cárdenas and Uruapan, Michoacán, Mexico. The facility opened in 2006 and features a circle track, several off-road courses, and is primarily used for testing HVAC systems.

As of 2011 the grounds are mostly abandoned, and only a local security staff remains. This is due to the volatile, potentially unsafe situation in the region and the access routes to/from Cupuán.

South America

Cruz Alta Proving Ground, Brazil

23°08′33″S 47°16′10″W / 23.1425°S 47.269444°W / -23.1425; -47.269444

General Motors Cruz Alta Proving Ground at Indaiatuba, Brazil

Europe

Testzentrum Dudenhofen

49°59′34″N 8°55′23″E / 49.992777°N 8.923055°E / 49.992777; 8.923055

Opel test track in Dudenhofen

Opel operates a proving ground near Dudenhofen, Germany , opened in 1964. Facilities include a 4.8 kilometre high-speed circuit, a 900m section of Belgian pavé and a hill circuit with gradients up to 30%.

Arjeplog

66°4′10″N 17°58′58″E / 66.06944°N 17.98278°E / 66.06944; 17.98278

Opel operates a winter climate proving ground near Arjeplog, Sweden. Most of the tracks are on the lake ice. Arjeplog has an average temperature of −11 °C (12 °F) in January.

Australia

Lang Lang Proving Ground

38°21′14″S 145°35′27″E / 38.353889°S 145.590833°E / -38.353889; 145.590833

The Holden Lang Lang Proving Ground is a vehicle testing facility located at Lang Lang in Victoria, Australia, approximately 90 km south-east of Melbourne.

It was opened in 1957 by GM-Holden and has been used to test every Holden model from the Holden FC onwards. It is a dedicated 877-hectare site with 44 kilometres of road systems, including a 4.7 km 4 lane circular track (speed bowl), 5.5 km ride and handling course, a 1.8 km noise road and 98m diameter skid pan. It is also equipped with an Emissions Laboratory and Safety Test Facility with crash barrier and hyge sled.

Asia

Guangde County, Anhui, China

31°02′39″N 119°25′33″E / 31.044266°N 119.425751°E / 31.044266; 119.425751

Shanghai GM (SGM) and Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC), both joint-ventures of SAIC Motor with GM China, opened in September 2012 China’s largest proving ground in Guangde County, Anhui, China.[2]

Proposed / Closed Proving Grounds Facilities

Mezcala Proving Ground

GM's proposed facility at Mezcala, Mexico was terminated in the planning phase due to breakdown in land negotiations. The facility was to take over Desert Proving Ground tasks when GM announced DPG's closing in 2000. DPG is still operating as of late 2008. Soon to be closed and replaced with the new facility in Yuma, Arizona.

Desert (Mesa) Proving Ground

33°19′27″N 111°37′13″W / 33.324265°N 111.620192°W / 33.324265; -111.620192

GM Desert Proving Ground in Mesa, Arizona was a General Motors facility for the testing of HVAC, propulsion, and various automotive systems in a harsh climate. Opened in 1953, the closure of this facility was completed in 2009. It was replaced by a new facility in Yuma, Arizona, known as the Desert Proving Ground Yuma.

References

External links

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