Development mule

Two Nissan GT-R "Black Mask" test mules on a truck in Japan

A development mule or a test mule in the automotive industry is a vehicle equipped with experimental or prototype components for testing. Automakers evaluate aspects of vehicles before a full pre-production car is built to find problems. Mule cars are drivable, often years ahead of actual production. They may come after concept cars that sometimes lack critical mechanical components. They may also have advanced chassis and powertrain designs from a future vehicle that need to be tested, but "clothed with the body and interior of some other car about the same size.

Mules are often heavily altered and the exteriors may be disguised as current production vehicles or as completely different models. Some noticeable alterations include simple cylindric shapes for the lamps in the taillights, different rims on the front and back without centrecaps, and a severe amount of added plastic and tape to hide the actual shape and design of the vehicle.

Development mules are most often used very heavily during testing and are scrapped. In unusual cases, test mules were acquired by members of the automaker's engineering team.

See also

• Automotive design
• Pre-production car
• Vehicle glider