2014 Kia Soul ! on 2040-cars

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LeBron James ad claims $10M fan bet proving he drives K900

As one of the nation's most famous and top paid professional athletes, LeBron James' Kia K900 sponsorship has always left us suspicious to its sincerity. The basketball player could buy any other vehicle in the world but claimed to be a fan of Kia's rear-wheel drive sedan even before he signed up as the brand's pitchman. While no weirder than many other NBA auto ads, the idea is still hard to believe. The company now wants to challenge the cynics with a three-commercial campaign called The Truth that stars King James responding to actual tweets about him driving the K900. The first commercial titled Ten Mil (above) starts with James checking Twitter and finding a skeptic that bets $10 million that the player doesn't drive the K900 to games. Since that's not the case, James confirms that a wager on social media is a binding contract and hops in the Kia with an armored car following him to go pick up the cash. However, the spot misses the mark slightly because we still only have James' word that he really takes the Kia to games Once the spots start airing, you can bet Cleveland fans start keeping an eye on how the player arrives to Quicken Loans Arena. It better be in the K900 for this campaign to work. LEBRON JAMES TELLS "THE TRUTH" ABOUT DRIVING HIS KIA K900 LUXURY SEDAN 11-Time NBA All-Star Responds To Real Tweets in New Ad Campaign First of three spots from "The Truth" campaign will begin airing on TV tonight and can be viewed at Kia.com and YouTube.com/Kia Multiplatform campaign will run through the remainder of basketball season and includes television, digital and social media elements IRVINE, Calif., December 3, 2015 – Last year, when LeBron James Tweeted "Rolling around in my K900. Love this car!!" and later stated he was a K900 driver before becoming Kia Motors' luxury ambassador, naysayers took to social media to question the validity of his claims. Now, with sales of Kia's rear-drive luxury sedan up considerably over 2014 levels, the 11-time NBA All-Star and avid car collector is tackling that skepticism head-on to prove the K900 is in fact "Fit For A King" in a new ad campaign from Kia Motors America (KMA).

Consumer Reports says infotainment systems 'growing first-year reliability plague'

The Consumer Reports Annual Auto Reliability Survey (right) is out, and the top two spots look much the same as last year's list with Lexus and Toyota in first and second place, respectively. However, there are some major shakeups for 2014, with Acura plunging eight spots from third in 2013 to 11th this year, and Mazda replaces it on the lowest step of the podium. Honda and Audi round out the top five. This year's list includes six Japanese brands in the top 10, two Europeans, one America and one Korean.
Acura isn't the only one taking a tumble, though. Infiniti is the biggest loser this year by dropping 14 spots to 20th place. Other big losses come from Mercedes-Benz with an 11-place fall to 24th, and GMC, which declines 10 positions to 19th.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's not traditional mechanical bugs hauling down these automaker's reliability scores. Instead, pesky problems with infotainment systems are taking a series toll on the rankings. According to Consumer Reports, complaints about "in-car electronics" were the most grumbled about element in new cars. Problem areas included things like unresponsive touchscreens, issues pairing phones and multi-use controllers that refused to work right.

Watch the Kia Soul hamsters take on 'Dueling Banjos'

The Kia Soul hamsters are back, but rather than bopping to the party tunes of LMFAO, they're delivering their own take on "Dueling Banjos." Thankfully, this commercial is more pleasant to watch than the film that helped make the banjo tune famous. Aside from the return of Kia's fuzzy mascots, this commercial also marks the welcome return of plumper hamsters. When Kia launched the Soul EV, it gave its spokesrodents a trimmer figure that made the anthropomorphic dancing hamsters even creepier. As Autoblog chief Mike Austin said when assigning this story, "Sexy EV hamsters were scary." Alongside from the two-minute commercial, Kia has included a three-minute, behind-the-scenes video called Soul Sessions: Making the Music. You can check out the main spot up top, and then get the peek behind the curtain below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.