- The new Qashqai plummeted from the sky with a stunt driver behind the wheel.
- In 1992, a GMC Jimmy bungee jumped off an 865-foot tall bridge in West Virginia.
- Top Gear also featured a car bungee jump over a 540-foot dam in Season 28.
The new Nissan Qashqai has set a Guinness World Record for the highest car bungee jump ever performed, plummeting 213 feet or 65 m down from a crane positioned near several skyscrapers in Puteaux, France. However, despite the Guinness tick of approval, this doesn’t seem to be the highest bungee involving a car.
Nissan decided to let the Qashqai e-Power freefall out of the sky for a TV campaign promoting the new model, which is set to air later this month. The carmaker says this advertising campaign aims to invoke the spirit of the Qashqai’s “historic TV commercials.”
Read: 2025 Nissan Qashqai Gets Ariya Looks And Google Infotainment But Not A PHEV
While we’re not convinced spending marketing money on something like this is the smartest idea, the new-generation Qashqai is impressive. In fact, we’ve been driving the new model for the past few days (stay tuned for the review). To pull off the stunt, a special cage was used to secure the car, and professional racer and stuntman Laurent Lasko was behind the wheel.
The jump went off without a hitch, and the Qashqai was certified by Guinness officials as having set a new record. But, other notable car bungee jumps have been performed in the past, and they were higher, but don’t appear to have been adjudicated by Guinness. The organization notes that “for the attempt to be successful, both the car and the bungee rope had to stay intact.”
Photos Nissan
The first example happened in 1992. While promoting the new GMC Jimmy, the carmaker fired a fully equipped example off the New Rover Gorge Bridge in Victor, West Virginia. It didn’t have a driver behind the wheel but fell significantly further than the Qashqai, dropping off the 865-foot (263.7 meter) tall bridge and towards the river below.
Top Gear also filmed a car bungee jump for its 28th season. In the episode, Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff was positioned inside a Rover Metro as it plummeted a claimed 540 feet (164 meters) off the top of a dam.