Van Damme Does The Business For Volvo

WHO said selling trucks had to be dull? Volvo has already used a hamster to sell its big rigs – it helped steer a truck if you don’t mind – and now the Swedish firm has employed the services of Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Called ‘The Epic Split’, the action movie star is seen doing the splits while balancing precariously between two moving Volvo trucks.

Whatever your views on Van Damme’s big screen exploits, the actor has successfully carved out a niche portraying a quirky caricature of himself in a series of television adverts.

Volvo’s gamble of adding a little showbiz sparkle to its range of otherwise workmanlike products appears to have paid off. According to its own research, the truck maker’s advert has been shared six million times on social networks and been the subject of around 20,000 online articles.

Crucially, Volvo’s bean counters have put a value on all this exposure: £59 million. Not bad for a wacky video of a bloke doing the splits between two moving trucks.

By Press Association reporters