Top Gear’s Toyota HiLux stunt recreated by car giant
To prove that the new electric Toyota HiLux BEV is as tough as its predecessors, the brand decided to lean on a Top Gear technique to test it.
The Toyota HiLux BEV has already gone on sale in the UK, Europe and Australia as a fleet-focused, zero-tailpipe-emissions alternative to the existing turbo-diesel HiLux, but some detractors have questioned whether the electric ute can be just as tough.
In order to show it’s capable of going beyond what most people would ask of it, Toyota’s UK department put the call out to fans to vote on how it should be tested for toughness: by hitting it with a wrecking ball or dropping a caravan on it.
With both tests harking back to Top Gear’s classic ‘Indestructible HiLux’ film of 2003, the caravan drop was chosen as the winner, resulting in quite the iconic recreation.
Taking to Bentwaters airfield in Suffolk, a 760kg caravan was suspended upside down over the top of the HiLux BEV and then let go, with the former coming out as the undisputed loser of the challenge.
While the caravan was all but destroyed, Toyota’s engineers inspected the HiLux and found “only modest bodywork scars”, allowing it to be driven away from the scene.
“Dropping a caravan on it wasn’t just about repeating the famous TV stunt, it was our way of showing how Hilux’s core toughness remains intact,” said Toyota GB director, products and services division, Chris Hayes.
Still, the HiLux BEV hasn’t been subjected to quite the same level of testing as the mid-1980s model received from Jeremy Clarkson and James May back in the Top Gear days.
Back in 2003, that particular HiLux crashed into a tree, was parked in the ocean and was finally strapped to the top of a demolishing housing block, all of which it survived.
This led to it being given the title of the ‘Indestructible HiLux’, becoming a permanent fixture of Top Gear’s filming studio until 2015.
According to Toyota GB, the caravan drop is “just a warm-up”, with Top Gear magazine set to undertake further testing in the near future.
Jordan Mulach
