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NBA players make some weird car commercials

If you've been watching Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs this year (or network television in general), there's a great chance that you've seen the spot above. If you're like me, you've also found the premise slightly ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, I think the Kia K900 is a spacious, well-appointed large car, and a value at that. But LeBron has made more than $130,000,000, just from playing basketball, in the last decade; the dude has got to have a man cave or something. But Kia's commercial is far from the most far-fetched where NBA players and cars are concerned. As you'll see below, long before Blake Griffin was pretending his Kia was a horse, pro ballers have been pitching products, and pitching them badly. (It's not car-based, but I would never forgive myself for not dropping the link to this spot featuring all of the 1986 Boston Celtics, shilling for a steakhouse. Horrifying.) Enjoy the carnage, and the rest of the second season. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Wilt Chamberlain – Volkswagen Beetle King James might have an acre of legroom in his K900, but Wilt The Stilt wasn't so lucky with the original Volkswagen Beetle. Wilt Chamberlain measured out at 7-feet, 1-inch, making him just slightly too large for the love bug. With this spot, VW employed the same self-effacing charm that made its legendary "Lemon" ad so impactful. (And Billy Cunningham gets a cameo out of the deal.) This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Carmelo Anthony – Eastern Motors Washington D.C.-area Eastern Motors knows what it has with this jingle. That's one hell of a hook. You probably won't believe Carmelo Anthony's half-hearted lip-syncing (and air drumming), but there's a good chance that the song will have you bobbing your head at the end of thirty seconds. Mission accomplished. Anyway, the formula must be pretty dialed in; Melo's spot is pushing ten years old but Bradley Beal's version from 2014 sounds eerily familiar. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. San Antonio Spurs – H-E-B The San Antonio Spurs may have a two-decade dynasty going, but they're still a small-market NBA team. That means that even big stars, like Hall of Fame locks Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, occasionally get hooked up for local spots.

Feds investigating Kia Sorento over shattered sunroofs

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into 64,000 Kia Sorento crossovers due to complaints from owners that the sunroof can shatter unexpectedly. This probe affects Sorento models from the 2011, 2012 and 2013 model years.
According to The Detroit News, NHTSA has received 15 complaints from Sorento owners citing sunroofs that shattered, 13 of which reportedly happened while the vehicle was in motion. No crashes have been reported from this problem, but one complaint did cite minor injuries - cuts from the shattered glass.
The automaker told The Detroit News that it "has been evaluating the performance of its panoramic sunroof as part of ongoing vehicle monitoring activities conducted as a standard practice on all Kia models." Kia's corporate cousin, Hyundai, recently had similar sunroof problems with its Veloster hatchback.

Kia decides on Mexico plant location for small car assembly

Mexico has long been a hot spot for auto manufacturing, but the country's fortunes have been boosted lately, with Honda, Mazda and Nissan recently adding factories there, and BMW is said to be poised to join them soon. Now, new reports indicate that Kia might start building south of the border to keep up with demand.
Insiders speaking to Reuters claim that the Korean automaker is very close to striking a deal to build a factory for two small models in Monterrey, Mexico, with a 300,000-vehicle annual capacity. Assembly could reportedly begin as soon as 21 months after ground is broken.
If true, Kia has done a fantastic job of keeping the deal under wraps. The only hint at anything like this brewing was a rumor last year that Hyundai may have investigation building a factory in Mexico. The company currently operates a factory in Georgia that builds the Optima and Sorento.