British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta has outlined ambitious plans to establish an electric car manufacturing hub at a former Holden site in South Australia.
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It will use a prototype developed by British firm Gordon Murray Design, in talks with Holden executives prior to making a formal bid to buy some of Holden's equipment.
Mr Gupta, who is the GFG Alliance chairman, bought the Whyalla steelworks in August.
Holden is about to auction a range of high-level industrial equipment in a global sales process.
Gordon Murray Design is based in Shalford near Surrey in the United Kingdom and is a design and engineering company that specialises in low-volume production runs, and utilises technology used in Formula One cars.
Mr Murray is credited with being one of the pioneers behind a 1991 McLaren Formula One car and is involved in cutting-edge automotive design using high-strength aluminium sections.
Mr Gupta and Mr Morley met with Holden's manufacturing director Matt Goodwins about their overall plans, before lodging the bid late last week to try to snare a large range of industrial equipment ahead of a global process to sell a range of manufacturing equipment.
South Australian Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis has thrown his weight behind My Gupta’s plans.
A letter to Mr Goodwins sent by Mr Koutsantonis on January 17 referred to the "recent discussions with Sanjeev Gupta and Michael Morley of the GFG Alliance".
"Based on discussions I have had with the GFG Alliance I understand that, should they be the successful bidder, they intend to develop the site as a manufacturing base for an electric vehicle utilising the innovative I-stream technology developed by their partner, Gordon Murray Design," the letter stated.
He said the South Australian government was supportive of GFG Alliance's bid and subsequent plans.
A Holden spokeswoman on Monday declined to comment on whether it might alter the course of the auction of equipment.
Tesla, led by Elon Musk, is a global pioneer in electric car making but the industry is becoming increasingly competitive.
Melbourne-based property developer Pelligra Group was revealed as the buyer of the Holden site in mid-December.
It plans to revamp the 123-hectare site into the Lionsgate Business Park under a master plan to be developed over almost two decades with a mixture of industrial, manufacturing, engineering and commercial usage.
It will also contain a museum of Holden manufacturing and memorabilia at the site at Elizabeth in Adelaide's northern suburbs.
General Motors Holden in early October announced it had sold the 123-hectare site to a developer but the identity of the buyer wasn't revealed at the time. The price hasn't been disclosed.
Mr Gupta's GFG Alliance company has been extremely active in Australia over the past few months after initially buying the Arrium assets including the Whyalla Steelworks in August, 2017.
But he has since expanded further, buying a 50.1 per cent stake in storage energy company ZEN Energy and then on January 2 this year acquired the Tahmoor coal mine from Glencore for an estimated $500 million.
On Mr Gupta's group of companies also made a binding US$500 million offer for an aluminium smelter in Dunkirk in France which is being sold by Rio Tinto.
Pelligra Group chairman Ross Pelligra said the company believed there was "enormous potential" in the Holden site but it was also important to keep its automotive heritage alive.
Holden became the last of four big global companies to exit car making in Australia when it ceased production on October 20.
Toyota quit its Melbourne operations on October 3, Ford shuttered its Melbourne plant in late 2016 and Mitsubishi closed a car making plant in Adelaide in 2008.
Holden has already started decommissioning of the Elizabeth site and that process will stretch to mid-2019. It will retain control of the site until that time.
Mr Goodwins said on December 15 it was important the site continued to be a hub of industry and jobs and he believed the Pelligra master plan could achieve that.