When GWM poaches Holden’s suspension sorcerer and sets up shop at Lang Lang Proving Ground, you know they’ve cottoned on to something lost on a lot of carmakers. Local tuning matters.
For years, Chinese imports arrived on Australian shores tuned for roads that bear no resemblance to ours. Smooth Chinese expressways, manicured urban grids, and the occasional speed bump. Meanwhile, we’ve got corrugations that rattle your fillings loose, country roads that shift from sealed to gravel mid-corner, and speed humps designed by council workers with a personal vendetta against suspension travel.
AT-1 (pronounced “at one”) is GWM’s formal acknowledgment that this approach was, to put it politely, not quite tickety boo. US and Chinese suspension tends to be pillow-soft, like their attitudes to democracy, but I digress…
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ABOVE: GWM Haval H6 with AT-1 localisation gallery
The Man, The Myth, The Commodore Whisperer
Leading this charge is the affable Rob Trubiani, who spent long 15 years at Holden fine-tuning Commodores and Colorados to within an inch of their lives. Rob’s home away from home was at the very same Lang Lang Proving Ground where GWM has now planted its big shiny flag. Rob has driven Australian roads man and boy and has damper calibration data to prove it. I love me a nerd!
GWM didn’t just hire a nerdy engineer. They hired near-lost institutional knowledge of what Australian drivers expect from a car’s bum when it meets bitumen. The Liberal government killed local manufacturing stone cold dead, yet despite the horrific short-sighted ideology, Australian knowhow lay like dormant buds just waiting for a spring shower of sensible governance.
The numbers behind AT-1 suggest this isn’t marketing nonsense dressed up as proper engineering. After all, you can slap an “Australian Tuned” badge on anything but that won’t make it nice to drive.
There are five distinct suspension tunes for the H6, one for each powertrain configuration. Approximately 24 front damper settings and 40 rear damper variations to find the sweet spot. Thousands of steering calibration data points adjusted over weeks of development.
This is the kind of fettling that Holden used to do. That Mercedes and BMW do it, but at considerably more cost to hapless punters. Not the kind of thing you expect from a brand whose vehicles, only a few years ago, felt like they’d been set up by drunk teens, or US talk-show hosts masquerading as government officials.
The Hyundai Playbook
If this sounds familiar, it should. Hyundai and Kia walked this exact path 15 years ago. Back then, Korean cars were the punchline at witty dinner parties. Cheap, cheerful, and calibrated for Seoul’s billiard-table roads. Then they started hiring local engineers, testing on local roads, and listening to buyer feedback. If only all carmakers did that instead of treating buyers like an inconvenience.
Look where they are now. Number two in Australia. Kia outselling Mazda. Kia-san is the wax-on, wax-off student became the master while Toyota nervously clutched her pearls and pretended nothing was happening. Yeah I know, wrong country but I simply couldn’t resist.
GWM is copying the homework, and they’re not being subtle about it.
What It Means for the H6
The petrol, HEV 2WD and PHEV 2WD variants are available now with AT-1 calibration. AWD versions follow shortly.
GWM claims the result is a car that feels “intuitive, predictable and confidence-inspiring.” We’ll reserve judgment until we’ve driven one. But the fact that they’re doing the work at all, rather than assuming Australians will put up with whatever calibration was good enough for Chongqing, is progress.
More interesting is the flow-back to headquarters. GWM says learnings from AT-1 feed directly into global R&D, with Chinese engineering teams flying to Melbourne to work alongside Trubiani’s crew. The colonial branch office is teaching head office how to build cars properly. Let that sink in for a bit.
The Bottom Line
Chinese brands have been knocking quietly on the door for years but few were opened. After a few false starts, a reborn Great Wall Motors came back as GWM. BYD, Chery, Zeekr, Geely, and the rest have shown the legacy brands that builders focused on product rather than profit can build competitive cars at competitive prices anyway.
But they’ve struggled to shake the perception that their vehicles are built for Chinese conditions and merely tolerated in export markets. Mostly a hostile media is fueled by rich shareholders but even that can’t hold back canny buyers.
AT-1 is GWM’s answer. Whether the tuned H6 delivers on the promise requires seat time. But the intent is clear, the investment is real, and the man doing the work once made Commodores “bloody legends” that still command big bikkies.
If Rob Trubiani can make a Haval feel half as nuked as a VF in full flight, the rest of the industry should be worried.
More Stories
- GWM Hires Aussie Engineering Legend Rob Trubiani for Local Tuning
- GWM Moves into Lang Lang to Aussify Future Car Line-Up
- 2026 GWM Haval H6 Ultra PHEV AWD Review
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Alan Zurvas is the founder and editor of Gay Car Boys, Australia's leading LGBTQI+ automotive publication. Before launching GCB in 2008, Alan's automotive writing was published in SameSame.com.au and the Star Observer. With over 16 years of hands-on car reviewing experience, Alan brings an honest, irreverent voice to every review — championing value and innovation over brand loyalty.
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