If someone told you they were making a drift film with a boxy electric SUV, you'd probably laugh them right out the braai. And if they then said they were sending that same SUV bouncing down eight flights of stairs, sliding sideways through alleys tighter than a Joburg parking garage, and keeping pace with a Nissan GT-R R34 and a Honda S2000? You'd check if they'd had one too many brandies.
But here we are.
Drift on over and see the iCAUR V23 models we have on offer
Wuhu Drift is the name, and it's got Cody Walker—yep, Paul Walker's brother—behind the wheel, paying homage to the petrolhead madness that the Fast & Furious movies made famous. Only this time, the hero car isn't a snarling V8 monster. It's the iCAUR V23, an all-electric SUV that looks like it was designed by someone who really, really liked origami.
And here's the kicker: no CGI wizardry. No green screens. No "we'll fix it in post." According to the crew behind the film, every slide, every jump, every tunnel blast and stair-clattering descent was done for real. With the standard powertrain, nogal. No secret sauce, no hidden upgrades—just the regular electric bits doing things they probably weren't designed to do.
Now, anyone who knows drift culture will tell you that the perfect drift car is low, light, and twitchy—built to throw its weight around like a Springbok on a breakaway. The V23? It's an SUV. It sits high. It's got the aerodynamics of a garden shed. On paper, this makes about as much sense as using a taxi to win a Formula 1 race.
But the V23 didn't read that paper.
Through tight city streets, the electric SUV throws its weight into slides that would make a proper drift car nervous. It runs formation with legends, screams through tunnels, and somehow survives a multi-storey stair descent that would've shaken the fillings out of most vehicles. The film puts serious focus on how the V23 handles steering response, power delivery, and chassis control when things get tight, fast, and way too close for comfort.
Of course, the film car isn't your standard V23 you'd see at the dealership. This thing has been dressed to impress: a wide-body kit that adds some serious muscle, an oversized carbon-fibre rear wing that looks like it belongs on a fighter jet, auxiliary roof lights, side aero bits, white multi-spoke wheels, and a geometric racing livery that screams "I'm here to party."
But here's the clever part—most of those flashy bits bolt right on. No cutting. No drilling. No permanent damage to the original body. The V23 was built with modularity in mind, which means owners can swap bumpers, fender flares, and roof-mounted gadgets without pulling out the angle grinder. There are over 20 mounting points scattered across the roof, dashboard, D-pillars, and chassis, ready to take roof racks, side ladders, crossbars, console mounts, and all sorts of overlanding goodies.
The roof rack alone can handle up to 200 kilograms of static load, while those removable fender flares give you room to play with different wheel and tyre setups. Fancy kitting your V23 for a weekend bush trip? Go for it. Want to turn it into a city-slicking drift monster? Apparently, that works too.
Shannon Gahagan, the National Brand and Marketing Manager for OMODA & JAECOO and iCAUR South Africa, summed it up nicely: "Wuhu Drift throws the V23 into a world most people wouldn't expect an electric SUV to survive, let alone excel in. It gave us a chance to show off what this thing can really do—and have a bit of fun playing with all the customisation options along the way."
So there you have it. An electric brick on wheels, sliding sideways through streets, bouncing down stairs, and keeping pace with some of the most iconic Japanese metal ever built. It makes no sense. It shouldn't work. And honestly? That's exactly why we love it.
Colin Windell for Colin-on-Cars in association with
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