Few vehicles have had their reputation for toughness tested quite as theatrically as the Toyota Hilux. Back in 2003, Top Gear subjected an old example to an escalating series of punishments and still couldn’t completely kill it.
Among those tests was dropping a caravan onto the truck from above. For American readers, a caravan is essentially a camper trailer, and Toyota has now decided that its new battery-electric Hilux deserved the same treatment.
There was a legitimate question behind the spectacle: can an electric version live up to the durability reputation established by generations of diesel and gasoline-powered Hilux pickups? Toyota UK apparently figured dropping a camper trailer on one was a suitably entertaining way to find out.
Toyota recreated the stunt at Bentwaters Airfield in Suffolk, England, using its new electric Hilux. Rather than choosing the punishment itself, the company first asked the internet how the truck should suffer.
Reddit Chose The Hilux’s Fate
Toyota UK gave Reddit users two options: smash the Hilux with a one-ton wrecking ball or drop a full-size camper trailer onto it. Hundreds participated, and Toyota says the camper trailer won by an overwhelming margin.
Engineers subsequently suspended a 760-kilogram, or roughly 1,676-pound, camper trailer about 30 feet above the electric pickup. With the Hilux positioned directly underneath, they released it and let gravity handle the rest.
The camper trailer essentially disintegrated across the cab and bed on impact, sending debris across the test area. Toyota conducted the stunt on a closed course under controlled conditions and stressed that nobody should attempt to replicate it.
The Electric Hilux Drove Away
Once the debris settled, engineers inspected the battered pickup before attempting to power it up. Despite the impact, the electric Hilux started and drove away under its own power.
Toyota described the resulting damage as “modest bodywork scars,” although footage clearly shows the truck didn’t emerge looking factory fresh. The important part of Toyota’s demonstration was that the impact hadn’t prevented the electric powertrain from functioning or the vehicle from driving afterward.
That doesn’t make this a scientific comparison with the 2003 Top Gear test, nor does one carefully controlled stunt establish long-term durability. It does, however, make for an appropriately ridiculous demonstration of the Hilux’s toughness as it enters the electric era.
Toyota says the BEV underwent much less theatrical durability testing during development as well, including deep-water driving, rough-terrain trials, and battery immersion testing. Special protection was also engineered around the battery for demanding off-road conditions.
Top Gear Isn’t Finished With It Yet
The original Top Gear challenge went much further, as the old Hilux was submerged in seawater, hit with a wrecking ball, and eventually placed atop a 23-story building before it was demolished, yet the battered truck was repeatedly coaxed back to life.
Toyota isn’t promising to recreate that entire ordeal with the electric model. It has, however, handed the keys to the Top Gear YouTube team for another round of punishment.
Whatever happens next, Toyota has already demonstrated that electrifying the Hilux doesn’t mean the company intends to abandon the truck’s famously tough image. The camper trailer was only the warm-up.