Watch Toyota Drop A Caravan On The Electric Hilux To Revive Top Gear Stunt

Remember when Top Gear tried to destroy a Hilux and failed spectacularly? Toyota certainly does. Nearly 23 years after that famous episode aired on BBC 2, the automaker has recreated one of the show’s most ridiculous tests to see whether the electric Hilux is just as tough.

The original TG episode aired on November 23, 2003, when Jeremy Clarkson subjected a 1980s diesel Hilux to increasingly absurd forms of abuse, including driving it directly into a tree and a building, leaving it in the sea, hitting it with a wrecking ball, setting it on fire, and eventually dropping a caravan on it. Somehow, the battered pickup kept going.

Fast-forward more than two decades, and Toyota has dusted off the caravan trick for the electric era. Rather than simply repeating the stunt for old times’ sake, the company asked Reddit users to choose how to test the new Hilux. They had two options: repeatedly smash it with a one-ton wrecking ball or drop a caravan on it. The internet, unsurprisingly, chose chaos.

Predictably, The Electric Toyota Hilux Survived

The winning stunt took place at Bentwaters airfield in Suffolk, where Toyota hoisted a caravan weighing 1,675 pounds (760 kilograms) roughly 30 feet (nine meters) into the air. They then released it directly onto the cab of the electric Hilux. And yes, the caravan lost. If it hadn’t, there probably wouldn’t be a video about the stunt.

Once the dust and debris had settled, engineers inspected the pickup. Toyota claims the Hilux had only modest bodywork damage, powered up immediately, and drove away. That’s quite the answer for anyone wondering whether swapping a combustion engine for a battery somehow turned the Hilux soft.

The test is particularly relevant because Toyota has gone to considerable lengths to protect the electric Hilux’s battery. During development, the pickup underwent deep-water driving, rough-terrain testing, and even total immersion of the battery. The Japanese automaker also developed specific solutions to shield the battery from damage in extreme conditions.

The OG Top Gear Stunt Is Still Spectacular

We wouldn’t be doing our job properly if we didn’t include the original stunt. After all, the new electric Hilux’s caravan drop is fun. Still, it wouldn’t mean nearly as much without seeing the Top Gear test that made the pickup’s supposed indestructibility legendary in the first place.

Now in its ninth generation, the new Hilux isn’t exclusively electric, either. Toyota also sells the workhorse with a good ol’ trusty diesel engine, and there’s even a gas version in some markets. Not only that, but a hydrogen fuel cell version is coming in a couple of years, too. In the meantime, a few regions also get the truck as a base model with steel wheels and a manual gearbox.

Circling back to the Top Gear-style stunt, of course, you won't find dropping a caravan on a pickup in the official owner’s manual. Professionals performed this controlled stunt on a closed course, and Toyota carefully recovered the caravan debris afterward for recycling.

Still, there is something wonderfully fitting about using a stunt made famous by Top Gear to demonstrate that the electric Hilux hasn’t forgotten where it came from. Batteries, digital screens, and electric motors are all well and good, but apparently the recipe still calls for one very angry caravan.

Toyota drops a caravan on the new electric Hilux

Photo by: Toyota

The Torture Isn’t Over For This Electric Hilux

And Toyota isn’t stopping here. After surviving the drop, the company handed the keys to the electric Hilux to the Top Gear YouTube channel. That tells us this poor truck is about to be abused even more for Internet clicks and to prove it hasn’t lost its ancestor’s seemingly invulnerability cloak.

Toyota may be known for sensible sedans and SUVs, but the Hilux is one of its best-selling nameplates, with more than 21 million units delivered since it launched in 1968. That kind of longevity doesn’t happen by accident.

Electric Toyota Hilux recreates Top Gear stunt

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Source: Toyota

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