Volvo Trucks’ latest live stunt sees a Kiwi driver take the wheel

After action film star Jean-Claude Van Damme’s thigh splitting stunt hit the epic heights of viral fame in 2013, Volvo Trucks had a hard act to follow. Three years later, the Swedish truck company has released their second instalment in the stunt-filled series, this time featuring one of our own.

Titled ‘The Flying Passenger’, the two-minute video features the same nail biting suspense as Kiwi truck driver Louise Marriott navigates the curves and bends of Croatia’s Dinaric Alps, towing French pro-paraglider Guillaume Galvani behind her Volvo FH truck.

The dramatic live stunt sees Marriott and Galvani overcoming a number of challenging obstacles on the road, which includes Galvani paragliding through a narrow opening on an overhanging bridge before being released out into the open Croatian skies.

Created by Swedish agency Forsman & Bodenfors, the ad aims to demonstrate—in spectacular fashion—the Volvo’s ability to maintain the appropriate speeds to keep the paraglider in flight and out of danger.

“This test is the perfect way to challenge our recently updated powertrain. The Flying Passenger illustrates in a very concrete and visual way what Volvo Trucks’ performance and drivability is all about,” says Claes Nilsson, president of Volvo Trucks.

Marriott, a driver for JPM Holdings in Christchurch, represents a growing number of female truck drivers in New Zealand and around the world. Last year she became the first ever female driver to win the Volvo Trucks Asia Pacific Fuelwatch Challenge, beating 16 other international competitors, and therefore the first woman to ever qualify for the Volvo Trucks Fuelwatch Challenge global final.