Land Rover-designed Santa's sleigh (2009)

The Land Rover-designed sleigh for Father Christmas, penned by Florian Dobe

By Tim Pollard

First Official Pictures

15 December 2009 22:22

Today it’s the turn of Land Rover to show off its version of Santa’s sleigh. Father Christmas’s go-anywhere 4x4 delivery wagon was sketched out exclusively for CAR Online – as part of our Christmas 2009 special feature.

Submitted by Oliver Le Grice, Land Rover’s chief designer of advanced design, and designed by Florian Dobe, the Land Rover sledge is designed to deliver presents to all corners of the Earth.

The Midlands design HQ has helpfully attached a spec sheet, letting us know this Land Rover has height adjustable suspension (presumably controlled by the brand’s Terrain Response controller) and a hitherto top-secret powertrain option: a particle accelerator. Not expected on a Freelander any time soon.

Land Rover has plumped for a two-seater layout, with space for a reindeer in front of Santa. Santa Claus is clearly at home in his Land Rover sledge; he’s puffing on a generously sized cigar while he views his pop-up holographic globe sat-nav.

A spokeswoman said: 'Land Rover Design with Santa Claus reveals the Christmas sledge of the future – designed to meet the ever-increasing delivery timetable. It boasts all-terrain capability, is powered by particle accelerator technology and has optional laser guided present delivery. There's even CRS – chimney recognition software!'

As you’d expect on a practical Land Rover, there is stowage space galore for presents, with an aluminium flip-top boot out aft. Nobody wants Santa skimping on boot space now, do they?

>> Remember to come back every day this week, as CAR Online publishes more Santa’s sleighs designed by world-leading car designers

By Tim Pollard