Bespoke ute for Santa

Ford Motor Company had some festive fun when it revealed concept sketches for a one-off Ranger Raptor North Edition to be driven by Santa Claus.

The spoof video below shows the results of an amusing collaboration between Ford Design in Australia and Kris Kringle.

“The sleigh and reindeer are my brand and will always be part of my work life,” says Kringle. “But I was looking for something that could be used on the other 364 days of the year, or at Christmas if necessary. I guess you could say I was looking for my everyday sleigh.”

The blue oval notes reimagining the ute involved a global team of experts, including researchers at Ford’s Experimental Laboratory Foundation, also known as Elf.

Features on the special sleigh, which was revealed shortly before Christmas last year, include heated hot chocolate holders, an infinity load box to accommodate presents and a tailgate barbecue.

Ford’s Levacar Mach 1 levitation system, which featured on a real concept car hovercraft in the 1950s, was also referenced in a press release to accompany the video. It says the technology was redeveloped so Santa’s Raptor could reach an altitude of more than 18,000 metres as opposed to hovering a couple of centimetres off the ground.

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