Jaguar Land Rover teases sleigh design for Santa

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) unveiled its Christmas design, the F-Sleigh, at a recent event in London. This sleigh, which was revealed in the form of an ice sculpture, was the carmaker's version of what Santa's sleigh would look like if its design team were to work on it.

Lindsay Weaver, Jaguar Land Rover director of Branded and Licensed Goods, said: "The amazing F-Sleigh may be a bit of Christmas fun, but it proves that Jaguar Land Rover is now creating much more than world-class cars."

The company said the F-Sleigh was influenced by the classic Jaguar design and makes Rudolph and the other reindeer redundant thanks to its "jet" technology, which it claimed is a tie-in to the F-Type's supercharged motors.

Apart from a generous luggage compartment, Santa's sleigh comes with the frills, including an embossed red nose, antlers and "supercharged performance through the night sky". The F-Sleigh is based on the F-Type convertible, with the biggest difference being that it is fitted with skates instead of the road car's massive wheels.

The carmaker, which recently said it would stop manufacturing its iconic Land Rover Defender, however did not reveal specifications of the powertrain that would enable the Big Cat-themed sleigh to visit all of the world's children in a single night.

The F-Sleigh was a revelation of what Santa's sleigh would look like if the productions lines were temporarily shut down to make way for a one-off Christmas vehicle by JLR, whose Solihull and Castle Bromwich plants build the Jaguar XF and new F-Pace among others.

Apart from the sleigh, the event also saw JLR unveil its 2016 merchandise collection designed in collaboration with luxury retailers such as Art Fragrance, Barbour, Bremont, Globetrotter, Menrad, Oliver Sweeney, Landy Books and 2x2 Ltd.

"We have been working tirelessly to develop collections that tell stories and celebrate our great brands, and this 2016 collection is our most desirable ever — we've really pushed ahead for design, quality and originality and it's great to showcase it alongside the luxury goods being produced by our exclusive brand partners," Weaver added.

JLR was acquired by India's Tata Motors from Ford in 2008. Since then, it has been one of Europe's fastest-growing carmakers. Both its sales and employment have doubled in the last five years.