You can't trust reindeer these days. Must be that celebrity status.
With Christmas days away and Santa's lazy hoofed helpers sunning themselves in Hawaii on a last-minute travel deal, it's taken Lexus to come up with a solution for those vital Christmas deliveries.
Last year, Ford provided the jolly old fellow with an EcoBoost-powered sleigh.
Folks at the Blue Oval had worked out that those methane-emitting reindeer produce the equivalent of over 200,000 tonnes of CO2 on their Christmas Eve jaunt--ten times that of the EcoBoost sleigh.
Lexus hasn't got quite as scientific with its Christmas transport, but the LFLC, or "Lexus Flying Luxury Cruiser" has a bit more badge kudos.
The hybrid sleigh has what Lexus describes as "800 reindeerpower", and an EV mode helps keep St. Nick's final approach a little quieter than usual.
A navigation system lets him pre-program all those addresses before he takes off--the old gent is losing his memory, these days--and while you think that glowing is supposed to be Rudolph's nose, it's actually an infra-red light with cameras, to help Santa fly through clouds and fog.
Still, Lexus, we can't help but be a little disappointed--where are those all-important EPA figures? Even Santa Claus needs to know what he'll save over his outgoing Ford sleigh.
As for those reindeer, it's probably time they were fired. Work-shy ruminants...
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