Despite their obvious potential for visceral thrills, car and truck commercials don’t tend to be all that memorable. But with the aid of Jean-Claude Van Damme, Volvo found a way to sear the memory of its FM heavy truck’s Volvo Dynamic Steering feature into viewers’ brains.
The set up is simple enough: The 53-year-old action star, is positioned between two of the hulking vehicles. But then you realize that he’s perched, one foot atop the side view mirrors of the trucks. And they’re driving in reverse.
Because all of that isn’t impressive enough, the two vehicles start to separate, just as the volume is turned up on the Enya, forcing Van Damme to do “the most epic of splits.”
Whether or not computers or wires were used to aid the stunt – Volvo claims it’s all legit, according to Slate – it’s next to impossible not to be impressed by the ad. Plus, it’s not like we’ve never seen Van Damme do the splits before.