(December 25, 2011) LAPLAND, Finland — Ford is offering to make it a greener Christmas with a concept sleigh that would dramatically downsize Santa’s carbon footprint.

Santa’s new ride, packed with cutting-edge Ford technology, would allow Rudolph and friends to enjoy a well-deserved retirement while Santa makes his annual deliveries with style in an environmentally friendly new sleigh.

“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,” said Ford car designer Paul Wraith.



The benefits of switching to the concept sleigh go beyond the environmental. Traveling such huge distances — some 124 million miles — means Santa currently spends in excess of $195 million on carrots to fuel his reindeer each year. The impressive fuel efficiency of the 1 liter EcoBoost would reduce Santa’s fuel costs by 90 percent.

Whilst Santa himself was unavailable for comment, Mrs Claus explained: “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.”

Innovative engineering means the new EcoBoost engine delivers performance to rival a traditional 1.6-liter engine but with significantly improved fuel efficiency and lower CO2 emissions.

“Our tongue may be firmly in cheek as we launch this sleigh design, but our heart is in the right place,” Wraith said. “At Ford, we’re dreaming of a Green Christmas. 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.”