Volvo Truck Denies Release of Van Damme "Epic Split" Video Was Timed to Bury Layoff News

You’ve probably seen the video that Volvo produced with actor and martial artist Jean Claude Van Damme performing one of his famous splits, while perched on the side mirrors of two Volvo semi trucks demonstrating Volvo Trucks’ “Dynamic Steering”. The video quickly went viral in the automotive and general worlds, with millions of people seeing it in the first few days after release. Now some Swedes are wondering if the timing of the video’s release was calculated to deflect attention from layoffs at the truck maker. Right around the same time that the video was going viral, it was announced that 380 temporary workers will be laid off from Volvo’s plant in Umeå, while another 100 jobs will be lost at Volvo Powertrain in Skövde .

Read more
The World's Greatest Actor Meets The World's Greatest Short-Wheelbase Trucks

As a teenager, I spent a fair amount of time at my local ghetto kung-fu school, punching people and being punched by people with no safety equipment beyond a set of mandatory “winter gloves”. It was fairly boring stuff, really, but it gave me a vague appreciation of the man known as “JCVD”. From Bloodsport all the way to the massively deconstructive yet strangely uplifting JCVD, the Belgian actor and martial artist has consistently delivered just the kind of stuff that 15-year-old brown belts want to see.

And now he’s delivered again.

Read more
  • Joe This is called a man in the middle attack and has been around for years. You can fall for this in a Starbucks as easily as when you’re charging your car. Nothing new here…
  • AZFelix Hilux technical, preferably with a swivel mount.
  • ToolGuy This is the kind of thing you get when you give people faster internet.
  • ToolGuy North America is already the greatest country on the planet, and I have learned to be careful about what I wish for in terms of making changes. I mean, if Greenland wants to buy JDM vehicles, isn't that for the Danes to decide?
  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)