Ford Motor (F) unveiled its new global headquarters, marking the company’s first major relocation since the Eisenhower era. The newly built complex in Dearborn, Michigan is just three miles from Ford’s longtime base. It offers twice the space of the current headquarters and enough room to host double the workforce, the Associated Press reported Sunday.
The 2.1-million-square-foot building includes extensive office areas, design studios, fabrication facilities, and a sprawling 160,000-square-foot food hall featuring seven restaurants. And, fittingly, vehicles are showcased throughout.
According to Jennifer Kolstad, global design and brand director for Ford Land, the standout feature is a dramatic central showroom intended for major product decisions. She described it as the “crown jewel” of the complex and compared the space to a “James Bond villain’s lair.”
“But it is impressive. When you’re in it, you feel like you are in the center of automotive design,” Kolstad said during a media preview. “Its principal function is decision-making. It’s where we showcase our new product, and our executives make decisions about what we will take to market.”
The new building — dubbed Ford World Headquarters — will anchor a larger campus to be named the Henry Ford II World Center, honoring the late leader who reshaped the company in the mid-20th century. Ford expects to finish relocating staff by 2027. The current headquarters, known as The Glass House and in use since 1956, is slated for demolition. The company hasn’t released the total project cost.
Industry observers say the overhaul reflects Ford’s effort to modernize its image and appeal to a new generation of talent.
“Ford wants a new headquarters building that reflects who they think they are and who they want to be going forward,” said Erik Gordon of the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. “And they need to attract new kinds of employees. They’re competing for software engineers, AI experts. Every company on the planet wants the same people.”
Executives also emphasized how the new campus will bring teams physically closer together. Once fully operational, more than 14,000 employees will be within a short walk of the building, and another 9,000 will be within a quick drive, said Jim Dobleske, CEO of Ford Land. The headquarters has been designed to eliminate the separation that existed in The Glass House.
“(Ford CEO) Jim Farley has said in the past: ‘When you walk into our existing headquarters building, you’re not quite sure if you’re walking into Ford or if you’re walking into a shampoo company,’” Dobleske said. “This building, you know you are walking into Ford Motor Company.”
Some employees have already moved in ahead of a formal opening event scheduled for Sunday.
Ford’s (F) rival General Motors (GM) is also preparing its own headquarters transition as it plans a move from the Renaissance Center to a new downtown Detroit location. Gordon said both automakers are trying to present themselves as modern, technologically advanced companies. They “want to be seen as forward-looking companies of the future — companies that are good at software and AI and things that they haven’t been known for in the past,” he said.