Arizona Proving Ground, Arizona

A major automotive test facility in the Arizona desert, near the Colorado River. It was built in 1955, on top of a former Air Corps training field, and operated as Ford’s primary desert test center until 2006. It was bought by Chrysler in 2007, for $35 million. (Ford purchased Volvo’s track north of Phoenix in 2009). The site covers nearly 4,000 acres, and has a five mile oval track, and many other types of paved surfaces and test areas. There are around a dozen large automotive test tracks owned by the major car companies in the desert of southern Arizona and California.