Detroit, Michigan, has long been known as “Motor City.” About 9 miles west of downtown sits the major suburb of Dearborn. Ford’s Product Development Center has been there since 1953 and has produced legendary rides, including the Mustang, Thunderbird, and F-Series trucks.
In late 2025, the iconic motor company held a grand opening for its new World Headquarters. It sits on the same site as the old HQ, commonly known as “The Glass House,” which is officially scheduled for demolition. At 2.1 million square feet, it’s twice the size of the old HQ and includes six design studios and 26 vehicle turntables. It also supports twice as many employees (14,000) while using 50% less energy. Other amenities include 12 acres of greenspace, a 160,000-square-foot food hall, and over 100,000 square feet of interior courtyard space.
Another feature there is something you won’t find anywhere else in the world. In the lobby sits a bright orange, metallic-flake “Ute.” The metal shop in the Experimental Vehicle Building (EVB) hand-built the Frankensteinian concept. The front half is a sixth-generation Mustang, with the fascia, hood extractor, and vented front fenders coming off an S550 Shelby GT350. However, the back half of the car is something altogether different. The roof ends just beyond the B-pillar and was closed off with a glass window to create a cab. Ford removed the trunk and installed a production Ranger truck bed. The Mustang’s original decklid was converted into a fully functional tailgate and placed symmetrically between the taillights.
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Utility vehicles are popular the world over
Apprentices built this Mustang Ute to gain practical, real-world
Apprentices built this Mustang Ute to gain practical, real-world experience. It took hundreds of hours to perfect the body lines, vehicle structure, and custom paint. According to Matt Korczyk, Ford’s U.S. Heritage Fleet manager, the Ute has a GT350 shell, but no powertrain is installed. They have no plans to put this into production.
Unless you’re a car enthusiast, you probably didn’t know this concept isn’t the first time Ford has made a pickup called the Ute. One bearing the name, which is short for “utility,” is popular in Australia, and has been since first appearing in 1934. The term “ute” has since become synonymous down under for any vehicle that’s both a passenger car (up front) and a pickup truck (in back). However, instead of having a separate, closed-off pickup cab and bed sitting on a frame, this Aussie ute combined the two into one flowing body that drove like a car but had the hauling capacity of a traditional truck.
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If you’re old enough for this to look vaguely familiar, you might be thinking of two utes we had here in the U.S. — Ford’s Ranchero and Chevy’s El Camino. The Ranchero went the way of the dinosaur in 1979, while the El Camino lasted until 1987. As mentioned previously, this one-off Mustang Ute currently sits roped off in the lobby of the new HQ and isn’t accessible to the general public. You can, however, get close. Ford recently opened its first public-facing retail store at the new complex near the main Oakwood Lobby.
