Volvo Trucks pranks valet in new video

By Stephen Edelstein September 25, 2014

For a staid manufacturer of commercial vehicles, Volvo Trucks has some crazy ad people.

The company recruited Jean-Claude Van Damme to do a split between two moving trucks, and now it’s back with another improbable video.

Volvo claims its new FH truck is the sports car of big rigs, and to prove it the company took one to the natural stomping ground of the sports car.

That’s right, the film takes place outside Italy’s Casino San Remo, where the wealthy line up to have their exotic machines parked prominently in front.

A valet is secretly filmed going about his job, which involves parking cars like a McLaren MP4-12C, Lamborghini Gallardo, and Shelby Cobra. All appears normal.

Related: Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, and Julia Louise-Dreyfus star in Audi commercial

Then a heavy-duty truck pulls up and the suit-clad driver hops out and casually tosses the valet the keys. This causes confusion, to say the least.

It’s too bad Volvo didn’t film the poor sap actually trying to park the truck.

Remarkably, there is a point to all this. The “sports car” connection is meant to highlight the FH truck’s new dual-clutch transmission.

While they’re already available in cars from the Volkswagen Golf GTI to the Ferrari Italia, dual-clutch gearboxes are fairly unknown in the world of big trucks.

Drivers may appreciate this configuration’s faster shifting times, but don’t expand tuxedoes and trucker hats to be paired on the Italian Riviera anytime soon.

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Stephen Edelstein

Contributing Editor

Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…

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