Steven Tyler drives a Kia Stinger backwards to go back in time. Dream on, Steven.
Re-Watch the Best Car Commercials from Super Bowl LII
It was arguably one of the most exciting games of football ever played in the Super Bowl. The Philedelphia Eagles squeaked out a victory over a Patriots team that seemed to march the ball down the field at will. But as exciting as the big game itself was, the Super Bowl car commercials were often just as entertaining.
Check out 10 of our favorite Super Bowl car commercials.
Top 10 Super Bowl Car Commercials
Kia: “Feel Something Again”
Here’s a commercial with a very familiar, obviously aging face. Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler gets in the driver’s seat of the all-new 2018 Kia Stinger as a solemn, road-worn pilot.
He slams the gas down in reverse and “rewinds” his life to when he was young, exiting the car as a very youthful lookalike. I’m guessing the message is that the 2018 Kia Stinger makes you young at heart.
Toyota: “Good Odds”
A Canadian athlete made it into a Super Bowl car commercial. Toyota is less concerned about advertising cars and, instead, advertised their brand.
In “Good Odds,” the eight-time Paralympic athlete goes through the unreal journey from being born missing limbs to winning a downhill skiing race. Perhaps not exactly the most car-centric ad, but one that endears Toyota to the viewer.
Hyundai: “Hope Detector”
Not to be outdone in the emotional appeal category, Hyundai brings the tears with “Hope Detector.”
Real-life Hyundai owners are targeted, then pulled aside into a room where they’re shown a video. It’s about Hyundai’s initiative to fund childhood cancer research. If there’s any humanity in you, you’ll have to choke back a tear at least a tiny bit.
RAM:“Icelandic Vikings”
It might be the best commercial from this year’s Super Bowl altogether, let alone the best of the Super Bowl car commercials. It’s ridiculous and bold. It’s clever and funny.
Icelandic Vikings ride in their RAM truck to the coast, then launch their Viking ship. They row to America, then drive to Minneapolis. Once they discover which teams are playing in Superbowl LII (NOT the Minnesota Vikings), they turn around.
Jeep Wrangler: “Jurassic”
There’s something about Jeff Goldblum that drives this commercial’s authenticity. An old Jeep Wrangler segues into the new model with Goldblum at the wheel while escaping the massive jaws of a T-Rex.
It’s all just a vivid, imaginary test drive in a Jeep dealer’s showroom. The “Jurassic” commercial both shows off bits of the new Jeep and provides an intro into “Jurassic World”, coming soon to theaters.
Jeep Cherokee: “The Road”
I like the message behind this Jeep ad (although not as much as the “Anti-Manifesto” ad). It’s the grassroots Jeep message. It’s where Jeep originated and feels at home.
The commercial displays shots of crowded freeways and busy city streets, then breaks to a Jeep Cherokee fording a river. “This is where some of our best stories begin.”
Lexus: “Black Panther”
You probably wouldn’t think that Lexus and Marvel Studios are a likely pair. Yet, in advertising “Black Panther” the new Lexus LC 500 F Sport is quite the right fit.
The commercial spot gives a short action sequence from the cast of the action flick and highlights a few of the notable LC 500 F Sport options like red leather and cool tech.
Toyota: “One Team”
Toyota plays it a little differently with this ad. It’s a bit of a wacky commercial about leaders from four different faiths all going to the big game together.
One at a time they get into a Toyota Tundra, although the truck certainly isn’t the commercial’s focus. it does show off the nice cabin space though.
The group gets to the game late, meeting up with a bunch of nuns in team colors, just in time to cheer on their home team as they score. A good commercial about unity when we could all use a big dose of unity right about now.
RAM: “Built to Serve”
I’m not sure what Martin Luther King Jr. would think of being the voice-over message for a car ad, pulled from a speech 50 years ago to the day.
This FCA “Built to Serve” ad certainly does tell of what a Ram truck can do, but there’s a gear-grinding disconnect between the message “built to serve” and boasting about a self-serving “look what I can do.” Hey, at least they aren’t toeing the waters of a religion message, right Toyota?
Jeep Wrangler: “Anti-Manifesto”
Quite obviously, it’s the least production-intensive car commercial and potentially the best Super Bowl car commercial of the night. The all-new 2018 Jeep Wrangler just does what it does best in a smooth, unbroken pan shot.
It pushes through a stream then climbs a rocky waterfall. It’s just plain, old hard work and grit on display.
