Ford’s UK division is dreaming of a green Christmas this year as the company’s designers took some time off from their regular schedule to reinvent Santa Claus’ sleigh and bring it to the 21st century.
The first thing you’ll notice about Santa’s new ride is the absence of Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and of course Rudolph, as the nine reindeers have given their place to a gasoline engine and in particular Ford’s new 1.0-litre EcoBoost three-cylinder unit.
And all for good reason, as Ford car designer Paul Wraith, explains: “They may look cute, but Santa’s team of nine reindeer create a staggering 214,670 tons of CO2 equivalent emissions each year, so something had to be done to help him re-discover his greener roots.”
Ford says that the switch from reindeer- to mechanical horse-power will also benefit Santa Claus’ pocket as the company calculated that in order to successfully deliver a toy to every child on Christmas Eve, he needs to travel around 200,237,360 km (approx. 124,448,328 miles), which will cost him an estimated £122 million (US$191 million or €147 million) on carrots to fuel his reindeer each year.
By using Ford’s 1 litre EcoBoost engine, which delivers 125PS and 170Nm peak torque (200Nm on overboost), the company claims Santa’s fuel costs would be reduced by 90 percent to just £12 million (US$19.1 million or €14.7 million).
Ford says it spoke to Mrs Claus, who appeared to like the idea: “I am not looking forward to telling Donner and Blitzen the news, but the polar bears in the North Pole will certainly welcome the Ford EcoBoost-powered sleigh.”
Mrs Claus continues: “l would of course back anything that means my husband can get home that bit quicker. Getting presents in a shorter amount of time to all the good children each year may even give him time to reconsider a few names on the naughty list. But I can’t promise.”
“Our tongue may be firmly in cheek as we launch this sleigh design, but our heart is in the right place,” said Wraith. “We’re already thinking of the concept sleigh mark II. With electric vehicle battery technology developing all the time, we are keen to get to work on a zero-carbon version of our sleigh.”
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