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2nd annual Automobile Advertising of the Year Awards revealed

There was some absolutely fantastic auto advertising in 2014, ranging from funny to inspiring. Marking the best of it from the past year, the Second Annual One Show Automobile Advertising of the Year Awards were announced during the 2015 Detroit Auto Show (full disclosure: Autoblog was among the award's sponsors, and Editor-in-Chief Sharon Carty was a voter). Unlike previously, there were no brands with dominance over the list this time. Presented by The One Club, the awards have an international scope and hand out honors in a variety of categories. In the Broadcast TV group, there were three winners this year. First, there was The Scripted Life from Audi for the Q3 about breaking out of life's monotony. Also, Dad's Sixth Sense from Hyundai marketed the safety features in the Genesis. Finally, Unbreakable Drivers showed manly men being tested for the Toyota Hilux in Australia. The Online Video prize went to the fantastic The Epic Split spot from Volvo Trucks starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. The best Interactive ad was the Honda video titled The Other Side for the Civic Type R, and the Experiential Advertising nod was for the Volkswagen Eyes on the Road clip that showed the dangers of texting and driving to a theater full of moviegoers in Hong Kong. Finally, the Public Choice Award went to the BMW commercial called Hello Future using the words of sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke for the i8. In the award not for videos, Jeep won the Print/Outdoor category for its Upside Down campaign. Check the ads out below, which show different animals when upside down. Also, look farther down for all of the winning videos and read their full announcements. View 3 Photos Automobile Advertising of the Year Winners Announced New York, NY (January 13, 2015) – The One Club (www.oneclub.org), producers of the prestigious One Show Awards and Creative Week, today announced the winners for the 2nd Annual One Show Automobile Advertising of the Year Awards. In partnership with the North American International Auto Show (www.naias.com) in Detroit, The One Club today unveiled the best automotive ads from around the world in five categories: broadcast TV, online video, interactive, experiential advertising, and print & outdoor. Winners will be presented on-stage at a special event during the NAIAS Press Preview on Tuesday, January 13, 2015, at the Cobo Center in Detroit at 4:55 p.m. The event is sponsored by AOL's Autoblog.

Honda accused of not reporting all airbag problems

The Takata airbag recall that has afflicted a number of automakers may have just taken a very bad turn for Honda, which has already recalled over one million vehicles. Clarence Ditlow and the Center for Auto Safety have accused the Japanese manufacturer of failing to report two "injury-and-death" incidents. To determine just what happened, the company has initiated a third-party audit.
According to Bloomberg, CAS claims Honda failed to report fatalities in 2009 and 2013, a point Honda doesn't seem to contest, indicating that it didn't report so-called "verbal claims."
"It is our understanding that some manufacturers choose to include these types of verbal claims, and that these constitute the majority of the injury-and-death claims that they report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration," the company told Bloomberg via email. "We believe this practice accounts for the vast majority of the difference between the total number of injury-and-death claims reported by Honda compared to certain other manufacturers."

Honda reveals new Civic hatch for WTCC

If you thought the Honda Civic Type R prototype we drove in Japan looked cool, and that the Civic Tourer that Honda will race in the British Touring Car Championship next year looks even cooler, just take a look at this.
Possibly the ultimate race-spec Civic, this is the car Honda will field next year in the World Touring Car Championship. Like the Type R prototype (but unlike the BTCC-spec wagon) the WTCC challenger takes the form of Honda's latest Euro-spec Civic five-door hatchback.
It's the car with which Honda intends to defend its title and capture the driver's title in next year's championship. It'll face a tough challenge from the new Citroën team headlined by Sebastien Loeb in the new C-Elysee, not to mention the rest of the grid. Fortunately, Honda is entering a whole mess of these Civics in the series, with former champion Gabriele Tarquini and former F1 driver Tiago Monteiro driving the works entries (hence the mixed "Gabriago" tag on the window) and another pair to be entered by privateer teams.