Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobiles ...

operates several

proving ground A proving ground (US) is an installation or reservation in which technology such as weapons, military tactics and automobile prototypes are experimented with or tested. Proving grounds can be operated by government bodies or civilian industries. ...

s worldwide, for development and validation testing of new vehicles.

North America

Arizona Proving Ground (APG) - Wittmann, Arizona

*Latitude and longitude: The Arizona Proving Ground opened in 1985. The Proving Ground consists of 1,498 acres (6.06 km²) located less than one hour northwest of the

Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is a civil–military public airport east of downtown Phoenix, in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. It is Arizona's largest and busiest airport, and among the largest commercial airports in th ...

at an elevation of 1,650 feet (500 m). The facility was originally a

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

facility (VAPG) but was transitioned to the Ford branding in the summer of 2009 and renamed the Arizona Proving Ground (APG). Volvo still is a large user of it. It features a 2-mile oval track with banked curves, a 2-mile completely straight road, a brake test area and some more tracks. The Arizona Proving Ground is operated year round. The climate is of a desert type with low annual rainfall and low relative humidity. Daytime temperatures are high throughout the summer months. The winters are mild. Nighttime temperatures frequently drop below freezing during the three coldest months, but the afternoons are usually sunny and warm. The summer heat (over ) is the most used time of the year, since worst case should be tested in order to cover many test cases. The facility is located on the outskirts of Phoenix.

Michigan Proving Ground (MPG) - Romeo, Michigan

*Latitude and longitude: The Ford Michigan Proving Ground (MPG) of

Romeo, Michigan Romeo is a village in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,596 at the 2010 census. The village is situated at the southeast corner of Bruce Township, with a portion extending south into Washington Township. Armad ...

sits on 3,880 acres (15.7 km²), and contains a total of over of roads. These grounds hold events like the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Formula car competition (FSAE). Th