Until 1974, a site in the Sydney suburb of Zetland was home to a full car manufacturing operation operated by Leyland Australia but part is now destined to be a flagship Audi facility.

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A section of the site where engines were once cast and machined, body panels pressed and a range of British Leyland cars, many developed uniquely for the market ‘down under’, assembled, is to become home to the biggest Audi facility in the world when it opens in early 2009, according to local trade publication GoAuto News.


Audi Australia is spending $A50m of Audi AG’s funds on a landmark building dubbed the ‘Audi lighthouse’ on South Dowling Street – a high-profile location on the main road between the city and the airport. Construction starts early next year.


GoAuto News said the massive new eight-level facility would house a dealership and Audi’s new Australian corporate headquarters.


The report said the distributor had taken over an existing Sydney dealer’s franchise for its new ‘factory shop’ retail outlet – and formed a new entity called Audi Australia Retail Company to operate it – but does not plan to take over or establish any more factory-owned dealerships although it does expect to expand to 40 dealers by 2015.

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Part of the former Leyland Australia site has already been redeveloped with apartment buildings located in streets with names such as Wolseley Grove and Morris Grove, recalling the now-defunct brands of the once global BMC/British Leyland empire, most recently known as MG Rover, and now owned by Chinese automakers SAIC and Nanjing.