EURO DESIGNERS Pimp Santa's Ride

[kpete]

Santa's Faster, Finer And More Eco-Conscious Ride.



http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-50154.html
No Reindeer Required

European Car Designers Pimp Santa's Ride

By Tom Grünweg

The next time Santa sets off for his around-the-world journey on Christmas Eve, he may have slick new ride. The design chiefs of six top automobile manufacturers have come up with their take on the sleigh of the future.

Usually car designers are required to consider a myriad of fairly everyday expectations as well as less ordinary desires. Which probably made this case clearer than almost any other: SPIEGEL ONLINE asked top car creatives from a handful of leading automobile manufacturers to come up with an exclusive design for a new sleigh for Santa.

The results don't have a lot in common with the classic reindeer and sleigh set up. Where once the plucky reindeer pulled the sleigh along, now they have become passengers -- or, sadly for quadruped fans, as in the case of the Mazda design, they have been left at home with the workshop elves.

The designers from Porsche and Ford had slightly more conventional visions to impart. From Porsche headquarters in Zuffenhausen, in Stuttgart, comes a variation on the new Panamera luxury sedan and the auto designers from Ford Europe headquarters in Cologne came up with a modified C-Max, a compact family car, that seemed suitable for Santa and his helpers.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,668859,00.html