We Need More Commercials Like This ‘Drive It Like You Hate It’ Volvo Ad From 1962

Today, Volvo is a brand that stakes its reputation mainly on safety. Sure, there are several other things to like about the Swedish automaker but safety is perhaps the key feature that most people associate with it. Half a century ago though, Volvo was making its name in America with a very different message.

During my time researching this piece on a wicked cool Volvo Amazon rat rod that happens to really be a Tesla Model S underneath, I found a classic commercial from 1962 featuring the Amazon. While the short film doesn’t include the estate version of the Amazon, dubbed the P220, which was inspired by American station wagons, it’s still outstanding.

In under a minute, Volvo hits on all of the Amazon’s best features and does a bunch of stuff no automaker seems willing to do in an ad today, and then hits us with two killer slogans. Let’s break this ad down and then talk a bit about what makes it so good.

“Volvo gets over 25 miles on a gallon of gas,” the ad begins. That might not sound all that snazzy or appealing but consider this; according to the Energy Information Administration, the average fuel economy for a car at the time was just 12.4 mpg. Kicking things off with a fact like that might be akin to an EV automaker saying “We offer 800 miles of range on a single charge.”

Then, Volvo goes all in on performance saying that this car “runs away from other popular priced compacts in every speed range.” So in less than 14 seconds, we learn that we can have our cake and eat it too, essentially. Keep in mind that we’re talking about a car that made, at best, 90 horsepower. It wasn’t until 1967 that the Amazon made over 100 ponies.

Nevertheless, this is where the ad gets really good in my opinion. The driver of the car is absolutely thrashing it across a dusty landscape. Then, we get a single uncut shot of the car braking hard before it comes to a stop and the driver immediately chucks it into reverse with what feels like exactly zero mechanical sympathy. He then mashes the go pedal again and flings the tail out down a dirt hill.

If you thought the mayhem might be over after that bit of drama you’d be incorrect as the next shot is the Amazon jumping over a dirt hill at speed. It’s not a huge jump so don’t expect any Evel Knievel antics but the car lands hard and keeps on going.

The whole glorious thing ends with a couple of simple but punchy phrases. “You can drive a Volvo like you hate it… Cheaper than psychiatry.” Those phrases are daring, a bit brash, and almost certain to stick in a person’s mind.

Notably, it’s important to point out that Volvo doesn’t have any official records for this ad that we could reference. For all I know, the Amazon in the film broke several times and was put back together just enough for these stunts. The suspension could be upgraded to handle all of this stuff or the engine could be more powerful.

None of that really matters though because the point is that more ads today would do well to just show a real car doing what it can really do when pushed close to its limits. Cars today are generally so much better than people give them credit for.

Around a year ago Toyota filmed a stunt with a GR Corolla where it jumped a building. The automaker scrubbed the internet of the actual video showing what happened to the car upon landing but having seen it before that, I can confirm, it wasn’t pretty. Maybe that ad would’ve done even better had the GR Corolla simply done some extreme things that it can actually do without ending up with a salvage title.

Some companies do this already with trucks and SUVs. They’ll show the truck or SUV towing or off-roading or overlanding. It’s part of what has made such vehicles so popular. Now, if brands really want to make smaller cars, sports cars, sedans, and the like more appealing, it’s time to take a lesson from Volvo. Show us that we can drive something like we hate it.