When a Hamster Drove a 15-Tonne Truck

Some brands explain. Others prove. Volvo chose the latter—on a mountainside, with a hamster at the wheel.

In a category flooded with stats and specs, Volvo stepped out of the brochure and into the wild. To demonstrate the feather-light nature of their Dynamic Steering, they placed it in the paws of a hamster named Charlie. No metaphors. No simulations. Just one animal, one truck, and a single winding path of rock and gravel.

The stage: a stone quarry road, barely wider than the truck itself. The vehicle: a 15-tonne Volvo FMX. The driver: a hamster guided by a carrot.

Volvo’s stunt unfolded like a theatre. A specially designed wheel, connected to the truck’s ultra-sensitive steering column, allowed the hamster’s tiny movements to guide the truck’s direction. A handler moved a carrot just outside the hamster’s reach, coaxing Charlie to turn left or right. Below, the vehicle obeyed—inch by inch, curve by curve—navigating perilous drops without hesitation.

There were no camera tricks. No second chances. Just engineering so precise, even the lightest touch became a command.

Technical excellence rarely excites on its own. It needs to be translated into something that can be felt, remembered, and retold.

Volvo understood that features only matter when people can feel them. By using a hamster, the brand inverted the rules of heavy-duty truck advertising. The message held clarity: if Charlie could steer this massive machine, anyone could. It stopped being a story about torque or responsiveness. It became a tale about control—so intuitive, even nature responded to it.

The steering wheel no longer belonged to engineers. It belonged to Charlie. And in that moment, it belonged to us all.