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Automakers score 8 out of top 20 most-watched ads on YouTube [w/videos]

Who would have ever thought there'd be a day where people are able to skip television commercials only to go to websites to watch them later? Such is the joy of a DVR and YouTube. AdWeek tabulated the 20 most-watched ads on YouTube, and found that nine were car-related including eight coming from automakers.
Volkswagen continued its Star Wars theme with two ads in the top 20, including the highest-ranking car commercial The Bark Side spot at number three with almost 18 million views, which doesn't even have a single car in it. Some of our favorites are from Chrysler with Clint Eastwood in It's Halftime in America and House Arrest with Charlie Sheen for the Fiat 500 Abarth. Chevrolet, Honda, Audi and Toyota were the other automakers in the top 20, but we'd be remiss if we didn't at least mention one of the coolest ads on the list, the Hot Wheels corkscrew jump.
Of all the car videos, only the Fiat ad wasn't played during a Super Bowl. Check out all eight videos - in order - after the jump. Nike took the top spot with its My Time is Now ad that has been seen online more than 20 million times with Pepsi's Uncle Drew posted up in the runner-up; some of the other videos include four Old Spice commercials and an ad in which Snoop Dogg is pedaling Hot Pockets.

Half of Chinese car buyers won't shop Japanese over hard feelings

The hard feelings between China and Japan is no real secret. Besides modern-day disputes, the two countries have had a long-running enmity that dates back to well before the atrocities of World War II. All things considered, then, it shouldn't be a shock that half of Chinese car buyers wouldn't consider a Japanese car. This survey, conducted by Bernstein Research, found that 51 percent of 40,000 Chinese consumers wouldn't even consider a Japanese car – which, again, isn't really surprising, when you consider stories like this. According to Bernstein, the most troubling thing is the location of these sentiments – smaller, growing cities where the population is going to need sets of wheels. We imagine it wouldn't be as big of an issue in traffic-clogged Shanghai or Beijing, but these small cities are going to become a major focus for automakers. "Nationalistic feelings are an impediment. [Japanese] premium brands will struggle," analyst Max Warburton wrote in a research note, according to The Wall Street Journal. Things will improve for Japanese makes, although China will remain a challenge, with Warburton writing, "the one thing that comes out most clearly is that most Chinese really want a German car. While we expect Japanese brands to continue to recover market share this year, ultimately the market will belong to the Germans." There are a few other insights from the study. According to WSJ, Japanese brands are viewed better than Korean brands, and they're seen as more comfortable than the offerings from Germany or the US, despite the fact that everyone in China apparently wants a German car. This is a tough position for the Japanese makes to be in, as there's really not a lot they can do to win favor with Chinese buyers. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, particularly as the importance of the PRC continues to increase year after year. News Source: The Wall Street Journal - sub. req.Image Credit: Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP / Getty Images Honda Mazda Nissan Toyota Car Buying

2015 Honda Fit shapes up for America [w/video]

The Fit may be Honda's smallest (and, starting at $15k, most cost-effective) model, but it has never sold in quantities that even approach those of the brand's larger offerings - at least not in the United States. Where American Honda typically sells hundreds of thousands of Civic and Accord models - even CR-V crossovers and Odyssey minivans - annual sales for the Fit typically amount to tens of thousands. But the Japanese automaker hopes to expand its sales in the segment with the introduction of the new 2015 Honda Fit.
Having launched the all-new model several months ago in the Japanese Domestic Market, Honda is presenting the new Fit to the North American market here at the Detroit Auto Show. By and large, it's the same model that will be sold around the world, having been redesigned with more aggressive styling, a larger footprint on the road and more interior space. Only now it will be built for North American consumption at Honda's new plant in Celaya, Mexico, where the automaker plans to also build its new Vezel crossover (or whatever it'll be called here).
The North American Fit ditches the hybrid setup offered in the JDM model in favor of a new Earthdreams 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine with direction injection and i-VTEC valve timing to help it deliver 130 horsepower and 114 pound-feet of torque. That's 13 more horses and 8 more torques than the previous model, and the engine can be paired to either a six-speed manual or Honda's new continuously variable transmission. With the latter, Honda projects the Fit will get 33 miles per gallon in the city, 41 on the highway and 36 on the combined cycle. Lighter and more refined than the outgoing model's powertrain, the new engine sits in a lighter and more rigid frame as well, which Honda expects will earn it top ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.