What would Santa drive (on the other 364 days of the year)?

Tom Richards – Volvo P1800 ES
Obvious: Volvo P1800 ES. For me, this is the defining ‘shooting brake’. Two doors, big practicality, and gorgeous, svelte looks. It’s the perfect set of wheels for Mr and Mrs Claus.

Their kids have flown the nest, so rear doors aren’t necessary. It’s practical enough for hauling firewood to keep their Lapland home warm in winter. It’s also reliable – the private car with the highest mileage ever recorded is, after all, a Volvo P1800. Santa would lap that up.

Ed Callow – Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII
For one night of the year, Santa has to sit in a lumbering, low-grip, open-top vehicle, pulled by a team of noisy quadrupeds. For every other day of the year, he needs to be cocooned in comfort and peace. When it absolutely, positively has to be supple serenity, there is only one car at the top of the list: the Rolls-Royce Phantom.

Behind the doors of the Royce Atelier, he can carefully select bespoke finishes: specially blended and exclusive ‘Claus Red’ exterior paint; a fawn hue across the sumptuous hide, embellished with jolly green and gold trim. The finishing touch? A Spirit of Ecstasy, backlit in red.

Pia Theisen – It might be a Land Rover…
I’d suggest Mr Claus needs a robust, reliable and resilient substitute to his sleigh.
He is, after all, the most important man in the world! His car must turn heads and command attention, and be capable of tackling treacherous winter conditions.

Now, you’re probably thinking: “A strong, dependable and unwavering vehicle – it must be a Land Rover!” But no, I’d suggest Mr Claus’s preferred wheels would absolutely have to be the indomitable new Jeep Wrangler.

Mike Stainton – Thor electric semi
Even leaving Christmas Eve aside, Father Christmas has a lot of baggage to haul around: elves, reindeer, the toy workshop. He doesn’t need a car, he needs a whopping great truck.

And being in tune with the latest fads, he’d have a latest-generation electric truck to pull the trailer – batteries charged by renewable sources, of course. But not the Tesla; the Thor ET-One. Not only is it named after a Norse god, the logo on the grille looks like a reindeer’s head, and the model name pays homage to an iconic Christmas film, too.

Henry Willis – Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen
The Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen is the last word in utilitarian four-wheel-drive SUV luxury. Hard-as-nails, it combines practicality with opulence; useful traits for Mr Claus, as he traverses snow-strewn Lapland tracks all year round while revelling in semi-retirement.

Stepping into the raised SUV would be just like climbing into a sleigh, and what the G-Wagen lacks in reindeer power, the G500’s 5.5-litre V8 gasoline engine makes up for, with over 380 horses to pull Santa along.