Land Rover's 'Santa Cabin' revealed

Flat-pack cabin fits into Land Rover Discovery Discovery Sport and is good for the North Pole.

What's the news?

Let's assume, for a moment, that you've decided to go camping at the North Pole this Christmas, in order to keep an eye out for Santa flying past. You'll need a cabin, then - something sturdier than a tent but which can be disassembled, folded up and will fit into the back of, let's say, a Land Rover Discovery Sport?

Well, helpfully for our Arctic holiday plans, that's exactly what Land Rover, along with Danish specialist architects LUMO, has created - a cosy cabin for a Mr Claus and a Mrs Claus to snuggle down into while the northern winds and snow lash against the wooden sides.

It's fully eco-friendly of course, made from sustainable materials, and sits off the ground on 212mm wooden struts designed to mimic the Disco Sport's ride height. And to keep the damp and wolves out, naturally.

Land Rover says that every last cubic millimetre of the Discovery Sport's seats-down load space has been utilised, even the cupholders, door bins and glovebox to store nuts, bolts, Christmas decorations and some carrots for a certain rouge-nosed reindeer.

The Christmas cabin was tested in Land Rover's own cold-climate chamber, in which all Land Rovers are subjected to sub-freezing temperatures, by mountaineer and 12-times Everest climber, the appropriately-named Kenton Cool. It was then transported by Discovery Sport - not sleigh - to its final secret location in the heart of the frozen wilderness.

Kenton Cool said: "There is a growing trend for off-grid living and 'wilderness cabins' and only Land Rover could create a 'go anywhere' cabin like this. The design is cleverly engineered and incredibly robust, making it perfect for remote locations across the world."

Helen Ali, Vehicle Package Team Leader, said: "We wanted to create a Christmas cabin for Santa, in a truly Land Rover way. The spacious and versatile Discovery Sport was perfect for this project. The seats can be folded flat at the push of a button from the load space, which is wide and square and there are plenty of hidden storage spaces like the area under the front cup-holders.

"Building a cabin that utilised all these features was a lot of fun. We could have built this in one of our bigger models, but we wanted to prove just how versatile the baby of the Discovery family truly is."

The cabin shares several features with Discovery models, including an optional tailgate seat on the deck. The wide horizontal door opening is inspired by the vehicle's full-length panoramic roof and provides epic landscape views. There's a solar charger on the roof, while lights and a kettle can be connected to the Discovery Sport's 12V power socket.

Land Rover packaging engineer Muhammed Malik helped design and build the cabin. He said: "Anything that wears the Land Rover badge has to be capable and versatile, with beautiful, simple design. Our cabin also had to be sustainable and easily transportable. We are used to working with VIP clients at Land Rover, but this was definitely one of the most unusual."

Anything else?

Land Rover will be using the cabin over the next few years to support ongoing partnerships and upcoming events, and it will be making appearances through its network of Land Rover Experience centres.

Published on: December 8, 2016