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Chrysler 200 gets Detroit, Eminem props in Super Bowl ad

Eminem isn’t prone to pitching products, but beyond the football players and the Black Eyed Peas, the rapper arguably got the most exposure Sunday in his duties in a mini-movie for Chrysler as well as lending his name and Claymation image to Brisk ice tea. In the second of his two commercials, Eminem promotes the new Chrysler 200 during an homage of Detroit images and testimonials to those who live and work in the beleaguered city. The two-minute ad, reported the most expensive Super Bowl spot in history (an estimated $9 million), begins with images of the city appear. The grisly voice over (Kevin Yon) starts with: “I gotta question for ya. What does a town that’s been to hell

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Super Bowl commercials: Kia Optima captured by aliens

Kia Motors America is among eight auto manufacturers with ad campaigns in Super Bowl XVL, and it will feature a 60-second spot called “One Epic Ride.” In the commercial, people across space and time – from a police officer and an international villain to aliens and an ancient chief – will go to great lengths to snatch the all-new Optima from the clutches of others and put themselves behind the wheel. The Optima becomes an object of desire, and even Poseidon, the king of the sea, does his best to get his hands on the car. Created by David&Goliath, “One Epic Ride” the commercial, according to Kia, “Demonstrates the extreme measures people will go to get their hands on a

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Super Bowl commercials: Suzuki Kizashi drives away from wicked snowmen attack

Suzuki will participate in Super Bowl advertising for the first time and it’s chosen its highly touted all-wheel-drive 2011 Suzuki Kizashi (pronounced “Kee-Zah-Shee”) as the subject of a 30-second spot called “Wicked Weather.” The commercial, scheduled for broadcast in Suzuki‘s top 14 markets, hopes to “communicate Kizashi’s AWD USP in markets where all-wheel drive inspires driver confidence in handling winter’s inclement weather,” according to Suzuki spokesperson. The commercial begins with an AWD Kizashi accelerating along a snow-filled mountain road. In quick order: * The driver is startled by a snowball that strikes the driver-side window of his Kizashi. * The man looks in his rearview mirror and notices an evil snowman throwing snowballs. * Following a barrage of snowballs, the

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Super Bowl commercials: Hot Miss Evelyn drives a Chevy Camaro

Chevrolet‘s new motto: “Chevy Runs Deep” has received mixed reviews. But all is now forgiven. In the onslaught of car manufacturers participating in ad campaigns in Super Bowl XLV, Chevy goes to the top of the list with this one-minute spot about teacher, “Miss Evelyn” driving a 2011 Chevy Camaro. The commercial features two friends fantasizing about the perfect car commercial. They have the new Camaro and it’s blazing through the desert. It’s dodging bales of hay in big-city traffic. It’s eluding bad guys and motorcycles and a helicopter. And all along it’s being driven by a few different fantasy women, including a redhead, Miss Evelyn. At the end of commercial, the Camaro has flown through the air after jettisoning

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Super Bowl commercials: GM back; Hyundai goes sheepish

General Motors, out of the line-up for two years, will be back with five commercials Sunday in Super Bowl XLV. But it will be far from alone, with at least eight other carmakers, Audi to Hyundai, BMW to Kia, buying air time for television’s biggest one-day attraction. Commercials is this year’s game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers will cost about $3 million for 30 seconds. Ford Motor Co. will notably absent among major automakers. The commercials will be diverse. Beyond GM’s five offerings, a Kia ad will an alien driving a Kia; Volkswagen features an animated Beetle speeding through a forest. And Hyundai, without naming another manufacturer, will poke fun at the others with an ad featuring

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Shaun White behind the wheel in BFGoodrich webcasts

Shaun White, the two-time Winter Olympic gold medal winner and the most decorated athlete in Winter X Games history, has other sporting goals in mind — car racing. With the BFGoodrich Tires sponsorship, While will appear in the “Upgrade to BFGoodrich” campaign. Taught by BFGoodrich specialists and a group of professional drivers known as “TeamBFG,” White learns how to improve his driving performance in a series of webisodes. The URL: www.bfgoodrichtires.com/shaunwhite. Highlighted throughout the webisodes will be how drivers like White can upgrade their performance on BFGoodrich tires. Rally racing to road course technique will be featured. The first webisodes documents White’s initial experiences. The first driver to show White what it takes to be a performance driver were Summer

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Super Bowl XLV: Cars.com's racy, talking cars commercials

Unlike during previous years, when Super Bowl commercials were only revealed the during the telecast, several companies, including Audi, Hyundai, Kia and Cars.com have unveiled their commercials as Super Bowl XLV approaches. Cars.com has introduced its two 30-second commercials, including a clever exchange among talking cars who use some racy, quick dialogue. Eight car manufacturers and several additional auto-related companies will advertise during this year’s Super Bowl, Feb. 6 in Arlington, Texas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRYLhkOV2so https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itEGwvPj4Lw James RaiaA sports, travel and business journalist for more than 45 years, James has written the new car review column The Weekly Driver since 2004. In addition to founding this site in 2004, James writes a Sunday automotive column for The San Jose Mercury and East

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Toyota recall of Lexus models pushes carmaker's total to more than 10 million in 18 months

Toyota Motor Corp. has announced another large global recall for myriad problems in the fuel systems of several Lexus models with the latest issue increasing the Japanese manufacturer’s recalls to more than 10 million vehicles in the past 18 months. Toyota said it will recall about 245,000 cars in the United States from its Lexus line to inspect a fuel pressure sensor. The vehicles include the 2006 through 2007 Lexus GS300/350, the 2006 through early 2009 Lexus IS250, and the 2006 through early 2008 Lexus IS350. The automaker also said it will also recall about 1.3 million vehicles not sold in the U.S. to fix different fuel system problems. Almost 400,000 of those autos have two different defects to be

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Controversial JFK death ambulance auctioned for $132,000

Nearly 47 years after his death, controversial still surrounds the shooting of President John F. Kennedy — even the sale of the 1963 Pontiac Bonneville ambulance that transported the president after he was killed. The ambulance that took the president from Air Force One to the Capitol after his death sold at auction last weekend for $132,000 — about 13 times more than a “regular” 1963 Pontiac ambulance is worth. Yet, the hopeful selling price was estimated to approach $1 million until a car conservator society questioned the car’s authenticity. McKeel Hagerty, CEO of specialty car insurer, Hagerty Insurance Agency, told Forbes.com: “There’s always something with those celebrity cars…the art world has the same problems. Even if the car is

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Jaguar history celebration set for Rolex Monterey Reunion

Jaguar will be the featured marque of the 2011 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Few automakers are as synonymous with sports car racing as Jaguar, and the reunion will highlight the 50th anniversary of the iconic Jaguar E-Type and 60th anniversary of the remarkable Jaguar C-Type’s win in the 1951 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, August 19-21 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, will host approximately 550 authentic and historic race cars from nearly every decade of motorsports history. The cars are divided into 17 groups according to age, engine size and must be period-correct in their presentation For Sir William Lyons, founder of Swallow Sidecar and Coach Building Company which evolved into Jaguar, winning Le Mans

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Golden Globe Awards: Chrysler shines with black & white ad

Chrysler has promoted its cars in recent years with several innovative commercials. It may have outdone itself with the primarily black-and-white commercial broadcast during the 68th Golden Globe Awards. The commercial is called “Whatever Happened to Style?” and it showcases numerous classic cars through different decades. The text begins with the words: “Whatever happened to style? Where has the glamour gone? Wasn’t too long ago. America had it. Looking and feeling like a million bucks. “It was practically a birth rite. We didn’t race from A to B. We cruised. Going for a drive was a big deal. And when we arrived . . we arrived in style.” The music accommodating the commercial is “One Million Miles Away” by the

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Nissan Leaf, Tesla Roadster top 2011 'gas' mileage honors

The influx of hybrid vehicles and intensified competition among manufacturers has shuffled the  annual listing of most efficient cars. For 2011, some cars are familiar, but there are a few surprises. Compiled by editors of the web site, thedailygreen.com and published on Huffington Post.com, the Nissan Leaf, the first standard production, all-electric car on the road in the United States, shares the best “gas” of any car in the country, the equivalent of 99 mpg, with the Tesla Roadster, the limited production electric sports car. Here’s the description of the Leaf and the list of the top-15 cars for 2011 with the best gas mileage averages: “The first all-electric car on the road in the U.S. is the Nissan Leaf,

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California company debuts circular Bluetooth headset

Maverick Lifestyle, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based manufacturer of hands-free mobile phone solutions, has introduced the Nica Sunrise Bluetooth headset at Amazon.com and select Apple Stores and Best Buy Mobile Specialty Stores. A reinvention of the Bluetooth headset, Nica Sunrise features a light-weight, open-air and clean circular design that can be worn comfortably for extended periods of time. Nica Sunrise is a departure from unattractive bar-shaped headsets, stemming from Maverick’s goal to counteract the negative stigma associated with wearing an awkward, protruding earpiece. With an unobtrusive shape, it resembles an audio headphone. Mobile phone users can say goodbye to Bluetooth fatigue in-ear syndrome. The Nica Sunrise’s open-air acoustics allow the headset to be worn comfortably for longer periods because there is

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Honda Fit Shuttle images leaked for new stretched wagon

Honda is plenty busy at the North American Auto Show in Detroit showcasing new innovation for the U.S. market. But it appears the Japanese carmaker has another surprise for its global markets — the Honda Fit Shuttle. The website CarScoop.com is reporting a leak of brochure images showing a wagon-like version of the Honda Fit called the Fit Shuttle. One image, featuring Japanese characters across the bottom, showcases a vehicle with an extended body, taller roofline and a resigned rear. The Fit is called the Jazz in Europe, Australia, Asia and in other international markets. Other images and brochure information, according to the website, detail the Fit Shuttle will be offered in two versions: a hybrid powered by the same

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Audi achieves historic first: one million sales in 2010

For the first time the since its debut vehicle, the Type A Sport-Phaeton, was produced 1910, Audi has sold more than a million cars per year, according to CEO Rupert Stadler. Audi sold 1.092 million cars worldwide in 2010, Stadler, a keynote speaker, told reporters at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Audi sold 229,100 units in Germany in 2010, its home turf and biggest volume seller by country. But 227,900 Audi vehicles sold in China last year, the second most by country and the projected world leader in Audi sales in 2011. Audi has also unveiled it would begin production by the end of 2012 of two plug-in vehicles that were previously concept cars, the A1 e-tron

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GM will debut compact Buick Verano at Detroit Auto Show

General Motors will introduce its new compact Buick, the Verano, in mid-January at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show and debut the car for sale in the United States toward the end of this year. The Verano will be offered with a 177-horsepower 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine and a six-speed automatic transmission. The car is expected to get 31 miles per gallon in highway driving, according to GM. “It is a smart choice that delivers unexpected luxury in a compact sedan — and it will compete head-to-head with competitors from Audi and Lexus.” John Schwegman, vice president of Buick marketing, said in a GM press release. The Verano, designed to compete against the Audi A3 and Lexus IS 250, looks similar to

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