Claim
A viral video shows a car perched atop a tree. The user has claimed the video to be from India.
The user has captioned the post as, Flying Car Spotted in India.
Further, there are many users who have shared the same video. Links to those are here, here, and here.
Fact Check
To investigate the viral video, DFRAC conducted a reverse image search of a keyframe from the video. The reverse search led DFRAC to a news report and many such posts.
A news report published on singtao.ca, a Canada-based Chinese language news platform, states about how this car ended up on top of a tree. It was deliberately planted on top of a tree by a driving school as a publicity stunt to attract attention.
The driving school has since been summoned and warned by multiple authorities, including the traffic police, the transport department, and the local internet regulatory office. The driving school’s social media account has deleted the video.
The news report, further informed, a coach from Yibin Boda Automotive Services Co., located in the Songjiaba Industrial Zone of Changning County, Yibin, Sichuan, confirmed that the incident occurred on April 10, 2025.
The authorities have noted that the video had misleading information and doing such publicity stunts posed safety risks.
Another news report by cbgc.scol.com.cn confirmed that the incident had really occurred in China. The report stated that a driving school, located in the Songjiaba Industrial Concentration Area of Changning, planted a car on top of a tree to film a video in order to lure viewers on social media. The video falsely claimed a student had driven the car into the tree. This led to controversy online. The driving has since been reprimanded and interviewed by multiple local authorities.
Furthermore, the report informs about another video posted on a short video platform that shows a crane lifting the training car, with people both inside the car and in the tree. The tree branches appear bent and deformed under the weight. The video quickly drew widespread attention. The self-media account that posted the video has since deleted it.
Conclusion
Hence, it is clear from fact check by DFRAC that the claim is misleading.
The video is originally from China’s Sichuan Province. It was a publicity stunt done by a car driving school company. Many regulatory authorities took action against the driving school and later, it deleted the post featuring the car atop of a tree.
