Less than a year into his tenure as president of Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford II announced that the company would no longer design its vehicles here, there, and everywhere else in Ford's scattered empire. One single location, the Product Development Center (PDC) in Dearborn, Michigan, would see every North American car and truck - from the T-bird and Mustang to the Bronco and F-series - through from sketch to approved design, a role it has served for nearly 70 years. That era has now come to an end as Ford has begun demolition of the PDC to make way for an expanded Research and Engineering Center campus.

As announced last September, Ford worked with Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta to develop a master plan that will transform the area into "a walkable campus of interconnected buildings that could one day house more than 20,000 employees in a flexible, high-tech environment showcasing new mobility solutions such as electrified bikes, scooters and shuttles," according to a Ford press release. "The focal point will be a new central campus building which sits on the site of Ford’s 66-year-old Product Development Center... Future home to Ford’s product development community, initial construction of the new building will be complete by the end of 2022."