The National Football League’s (NFL's) Super Bowl was held over the weekend and as usual the ads during the show were part of the annual event.
Typically, automotive OEMs use the Super Bowl to showcase their upcoming car lineups to get people excited for what is to come. However, this year something completely different happened. All of the car commercials featured electric vehicles (EVs).
The move shows the commitment that is being undertaken by automotive OEMs to transition to EVs in the next decade and that begins as more electrified models will likely be introduced this year than ever before.
The move is part of the largest transition in the automotive sector’s history as it moves away from gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles to electrified models. In fact, the entire industry has pledged to primarily sell electrified models by about 2040.
That means the ramp up in these vehicles will happen quickly and automakers are not hesitating by introducing a slew of models to get consumers interested early.
The ads
The ads featured a range of funny moments to serious driving, showcasing the cars as the primary selling point.
Chevy, part of General Motors, showcased its first-ever all-electric Silverado featuring Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who played Tony Soprano’s daughter on “The Sopranos,” driving the Silverado through New York City to New Jersey, mimicking the opening credits from HBO’s hit show.
General Motors would later feature an ad from the cast of “Austin Powers” where it not-so-subtly told its customers that it would be selling only EVs very soon. This might be an eye-opener to some consumers who have not been following the trends from automotive OEMs.
GM last month pledged more than $7 billion to four Michigan manufacturing facilities to increase battery cell and electric truck manufacturing capacity in what it claims is the largest investment in the company’s history.
Nearly a year ago, GM pledged to phase out gas- and diesel-powered cars and invest about $27 billion over the next five years to develop and expand its Ultium battery technology and platform, which will help the company build a variety of EVs.
As part of the commercial featuring “Austin Powers” characters, climate change is the reason given for the transition by GM. GM said it plans to have 30 EVs globally available by 2025.
Meanwhile, BMW featured Arnold Schwarzenegger as a bored Zeus using his power as the god of lightning to start a golf cart and gardening appliances only to later be introduced to the company’s new all-electric vehicle.
Polestar took a different approach with a commercial that focused on the car itself while taking some digs at the competition, namely Tesla. The Polestar 2 is set to debut this year.
Kia featured its upcoming EV6 with a robot dog chasing after the vehicles and needing its own recharge after finally finding it.
Is the hype justified?
While EV commercials dominated the Super Bowl and automakers are clearly taking steps to amplify their presence in the space, the global share of EVs in 2021 only reached 8.3% of all vehicles.
While this sales volume in 2021 was the largest increase since 2012, jumping more than 2 million units, it means for the foreseeable future, gas and diesel vehicles will continue to dominate the market until more electrified models become available. And given the cycle it takes to develop and manufacture a car it is likely going to take years before numerous EVs from these automotive OEMs are on the road.
Still, given that this is the largest transition in the automotive sector’s history, automakers are quickly moving to get the word out that EVs are the future (whether consumers like it or not) and to get ready.