This is the final production version of the V12 Zagato, inspired by the 50th anniversary last year of the DB4GT Zagato and handmade in very small numbers (150 cars) for the princely sum of £330,000 (plus local taxes).

Whilst the V12 Zagato may be the pinnacle of the Vantage range, in some ways it has more in common with the range-topping £1 million One-77, from which it borrows many of the materials, processes and technology pioneered in that car.

Our relationship with Zagato stretches back more than 50 years. Together in that time we have created a series of very special cars.

For Aston Martin’s CEO, Dr Ulrich Bez, the V12 Zagato is “a celebration of both Aston Martin’s heritage and its future”. He continues: “Our relationship with Zagato stretches back more than 50 years. Together in that time we have created a series of very special cars.

The first – the DB4GT Zagato – is a true icon: fast, beautiful and incredibly desirable. In the V12 Zagato I believe we have captured the spirit of that car and combined it with a confident twist of modernity to give it a character all of its own.”

Initial design concepts for the V12 Zagato were explored in early 2010. Inspired by Zagato’s bold and individual styling signatures Aston Martin’s Director of Design, Marek Reichman, and his Gaydon-based design team relished the challenge of shaping the V12 Zagato, creating a car that pushes the boundaries of Aston Martin’s design language, yet pays tribute to the DB4GT Zagato.

Demonstrating Aston Martin’s ability to rapidly bring ideas to fruition the Zagato programme quickly gained momentum, the design team working hand-in-hand with engineers and craftsmen to complete the build of a pair of concept cars in the spring of 2011.

The Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, introduced in October 1960 was fitted with a a 3.7-litre, aluminium straight-6 engine producing 314 bhp. It could accelerate from 0-60 mph in 6.1 seconds and reach a top speed of 153.5 mph. Only 19 of the originally planned 25 cars were ever made.

These concept cars then made their world debut at the prestigious Villa d’Este concours in May 2011. Entered in the Concept Cars and Prototypes class, the V12 Zagato wowed the judges and the crowd, taking first place against impressive opposition.

In June the Villa d’Este winner – along with the second prototype car – made the V12 Zagato’s world racing debut at the gruelling 24 hour endurance race held at the Nürburgring. Both cars completed the ultimate durability test, continuing Aston Martin’s 100 per cent finishing record in this notoriously difficult race.

After an overwhelmingly positive response from customers, the decision was made in July 2011 to build a strictly limited run of V12 Zagatos.

Since then, Aston Martin’s design team has worked to refine the sports car’s detailing and aerodynamic performance while staying faithful to the original design concept.

At the same time engineers based at Gaydon have been putting prototypes through the company’s rigorous development programme to ensure the V12 Zagato performs as well as it looks.

Every Aston Martin is a unique combination of advanced materials, technology and time-honoured craftsmanship. The V12 Zagato takes this philosophy to a level previously only seen in the company’s exquisite One-77 supercar, which completes its build run this year.

Creating each V12 Zagato is a painstaking process that takes approximately 2,000 man-hours to complete.

Just like the One-77, the V12 Zagato is constructed from a combination of hand crafted aluminium and carbon fibre. The bonnet, signature ‘double-bubble’ roof and doors are hand-crafted aluminium, while the front and rear fenders, door sills and boot lid surround are made from carbon fibre.

The finished body is then painted in the same dedicated area as the One-77.

Four unique colours have been created for the V12 Zagato: Scintilla Silver, Alloro Green, Alba Blue and Diavolo Red. The painting process alone takes some 100 hours to complete and is followed by the marriage of the body and the drivetrain within the sports car production area.

From there the V12 Zagato is transferred to the standalone facility originally built to house One-77 production, where the build is completed.

This serene, laboratory-like space is perfectly suited to the task of creating special cars such as the V12 Zagato. It is here that time is lavished upon the fitment and installation of an array of bespoke components, including the side glass and the distinctive rear window, which features a curved surface that continues the sculptural lines of the ‘double-bubble’ roof.

All the exterior brightwork around the windows has a contemporary black finish to compliment the exposed carbon fibre components, whilst fitment of the hand-crafted interior and upholstery is also completed in this dedicated build area.

Like all Aston Martins when viewed as a whole, the V12 Zagato is an artful composition of powerful lines and compelling proportions, but when viewed up close it reveals sophisticated, sculptural surfaces and jewel-like details.

The exposed elements of carbon fibre on the front splitter, A-pillars, rear lamp pods, diffuser, door mirror cases and rear wing all display the same perfectly symmetrical weave and smooth resin finish. Likewise the bold new grille is formed in a unique three-dimensional composite material mesh that echoes Zagato’s famous ‘Z’ moniker.

More delights are found inside.

Seven Bridge of Weir hides – in semi-aniline finish to offer durability while preserving the natural texture of the leather – are used to trim the V12 Zagato’s interior.

Hand-stitched quilting of a unique design creates a flowing pattern that evokes a dynamic sense of movement across the seats and headlining, while ‘Z’ embroidery in the headrests and rear parcel shelf add a further flourish.

Satin-finish carbon fibre on the dashboard and centre stack is perfectly complimented by piano black accents and satin black rotary switchgear, whilst carbon fibre sill-plaques with ’V12 Zagato’ inlaid metal script provide a distinctive finishing touch.

A work of art built by skilled craftsmen to be driven and enjoyed by the world’s most discerning car collectors, the V12 Zagato is a fitting tribute to its illustrious ancestor.

If you’re tempted (I certainly am) then you can order a V12 Zagato for £330,000 (plus local taxes). The first production V12 Zagato will be on show at next month’s Geneva Motor Show and thereafter first deliveries will commence from Autumn 2012.

Gallery

The video, which was written and developed together with Hollywood legend, Clint Eastwood, is a follow-on to last year’s Eminem-led production, “Imported from Detroit”, but rather than focus on Chrysler’s product it’s about shared values.

In the ad, 81-year old Eastwood gives a pep-talk to America, narrating the story of Detroit’s Motor City digging deep, despite tough economic conditions and coming out fighting with true American spirit.

But it’s not really an advert, not in the literal sense, Eastwood had to be convinced that it wouldn’t be a commercial before getting involved. Instead it’s a rallying cry for America to unite and show the world its resilience, hard work, drive and humility – preferably whilst driving around in Chryslers.

How does this grab you?

“This country can’t be knocked out with one punch.  We get right back up again and when we do the world’s going to hear the roar of our engines. Yeah.  It’s half-time America, and our second half is about to begin.”

Powerful stuff eh?

Chrysler ran the 2-minute ad at the very end of the game’s half-time break and since broadcaster NBC were charging up to $3.5m for a 30-second spot, one can only guess what Chrysler spent securing this high-profile position.

What went wrong?

So, amid such a powerful and inspiring message, it came as something of a surprise when the ad was taken down from YouTube for much of last Monday.

A claim was made by the NFL (Super Bowl rights holders) that the ad violated their copyrights and even though Google’s copyright policies require proof to be provided, their vetting of NFL’s claim seems to have slipped through this particular net.

Officials at the NFL subsequently denied sending the takedown notice, but Automotive blog, Jalopnik, unearthed the truth.

“It really was a misunderstanding. Someone was under the impression we were taking advantage of the NFL show, which is copyright protected…

NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy confirmed in a statement:

“A third-party vendor monitoring game content mistakenly sent a takedown notice… The vendor thought the ad was part of the halftime programming, which is protected, and not a commercial.”

So, the NFL had no issue with the ad. Chrysler did nothing to violate their copyright and neither NBC nor Google had any objection to its content. Indeed, the NFL even hosted the ad on their own website.

Chrysler’s Chief Marketing Officer, Olivier Francois, said in an interview with AdAge yesterday:

“It really was a misunderstanding. Someone was under the impression we were taking advantage of the NFL show [which is copyright protected]. We are attempting to assess what the impact was. I’m not saying we’re satisfied with what happened.”

Despite claims of there being a partisan nod towards President Obama’s automotive bailouts, Eastwood has strenuously denied any such affiliation. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, he said:

“It was meant to be a message.. just about job growth and the spirit of America. I think all politicians will agree with it. I thought the spirit was OK. I just want to say that the spin stops with you guys, and there is no spin in that ad. On this I am certain.”

He also went on to say that the fee he received from the ad was donated to charity.

Chrysler have gained significant exposure from the media coverage of Google’s gaffe and the number of people who’ve watched the ad on YouTube is more than double that of the company’s Eminem ad at the same point last year, so perhaps there’s a silver-lining to the cloud that formed over Detroit last Monday.

You can see other ads which kicked up controversy at this year’s Super Bowl in the article – On the edge or a step too far? The Super Bowl ads that crossed the line.

Back in Blighty

Chrysler are on a big push to re-invent their brand in the UK during 2012. Whilst the Eastwood Super Bowl ad was for American audiences, Chrysler UK have at the same time launched a series of ads here in the UK, aiming to convey its uniquely gritty, urban reputation.

The £10 million Different Is What We Do campaign is led by three major television commercials, the first of which ran on Sky TV last Sunday.

The TV commercial, opens with the new 300C cruising through the ‘Motor City’ of Detroit, USA. It emerges from a tunnel on to the streets of inner London, where it is joined by the rest of the Chrysler range.

Chrysler are hoping British buyers will identify with the spirit of its brand, as also conveyed in the Eastwood ad, and the pride in the things they make.

Kia’s California design centre team enthusiastically took on the project, led by Chief Designer Tom Kearns. “Concept cars are icing on the cake,” said Kearns. “They allow KMA’s design team to dream about what could be. Whether that dream becomes a reality or not is a separate question.”

That’s a shame because it would finally move Kia into the category of ‘serious car maker’, at least for us Europeans who place so much emphasis on brand’s motorsport pedigree.

“The idea was to make the Track’ster tough looking, like a bulldog,” said Kearns. “But the car had to be approachable as well. We wanted to base the car in reality so people instantly knew it was a Soul, but with a lot of attitude. It had to be a bold interpretation that would change people’s conceptions of what a sporty Kia could be.”

Flanked by over-sized LED driving lights with billet aluminium surrounds, the Track’ster’s lower intake grille scoops in plenty of air to keep the engine running cool even under the most gruelling conditions. The lower valance, trimmed in carbon fibre and accented with Inferno Orange, rides just inches off the ground and lends to the car’s menacing stance.

The Track’ster ‘rolls’ on custom HRE-K1 monoblock billet performance wheels that were a joint effort between Kia’s California design team and HRE. The wheels are wrapped in 245/40 x 19″ Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tyres at the front and 285/35 x 19″ at the rear.

A 2.0-litre turbocharged in-line-four cylinder engine powers the Track’ster, putting its 246 bhp to the road via an electronically controlled four-wheel-drive system. With a short-throw six-speed manual transmission and a lowered sport suspension, Kia are confident their new concept will “make car enthusiasts salivate”. Really?

There’s frequent mention within Kia’s press release of the Track’ster Concept’s Inferno Orange colour scheme, which is apparently synonymous with racing.

Blimey, somebody better tell Adrian Newey that he’s been handicapping young Vettel with the ‘wrong’ colour car..

Gallery

Coton is a man who knows Formula One and will be conscious of the space a driver needs to focus on their main job, namely winning races, so will be instrumental in creating a ‘bubble’ around Hamilton, that was said to be at the root of his problems last year.

Didier Coton, who runs Sports Marketing and Event Management company Aces Management Group, takes on the task of guiding the 2008 F1 World Champion back to winning form.

Hamilton retains Simon Fuller’s XIX Entertainment to run his broader affairs, whilst the highly-experienced Didier Coton joins XIX to guide Hamilton’s racing career back to world championship winning form.

Coton said: “Being appointed by Simon to join the team is a great honour. I am excited to work alongside two such prestigious personalities and talents. XIX’s visionary approach is unique and one I believe in. I look forward to helping Lewis achieve success and developing long term projects with Simon and his team.”

Hamilton experienced a turbulent year in 2011, which was partly blamed by the media on his long-distance relationship with former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger. Neither Hamilton nor Scherzinger have ever validated this assumption, although clearly their busy schedules placed tension on their relationship, leading to the pair splitting in October last year.

Since then, the pair have been spotted at a ski resort in Vail, Colorado where they spent New Year’s Eve and earlier this week heading out for dinner in Los Angeles.

With Scherzinger’s recent departure from the judging panel of X Factor U.S., she’ll have a bit more time on her hands, so perhaps that will boost Lewis’ morale and enable him to focus on winning another championship.

So when Cadillac claimed it was fairest of them all, we had to take a closer look.

Cadillac’s 30-second preview of the upcoming 2013 ATS compact sport saloon during last Sunday’s Super Bowl XLVI broadcast, was apparently the most-viewed single advertising spot in U.S. television history. (With Super Bowl XVLI reaching a record U.S. television audience of 111.3 million viewers)

The data used by Cadillac was provided by Kantar Media, a well respected audience insight company, using return path data (RPD) sampled passively through the set-top boxes of an opted-in audience. The sample size used was 100,000 (of the 111.3 million audience) and Kantar Media then sample a behaviour they call ‘TuneAway’, which is essentially when a household changes channel to avoid a commercial.

The lower the TuneAway, the more successful the ad or programme. In theory.

A large proportion of investments made in technology companies at the moment are in the field of audience research and response, mostly to optimise online spend or manage customer relationships on 3rd party platforms such as Facebook. Each try to promise a ‘silver bullet’ solution (one dashboard for all needs) and tend to focus on the interpreted data rather than the method (and its assumptions) used in producing the data.

The problem though with all TV audience data is that it measures the behaviour of a household, rather than a person. A household could be a group of mates sitting down to watch the game, a family dictated to by a dominant parent or even a busy social gathering where the TV is switched on in the background.

Additionally, just like many online traffic measurements (such as Alexa or Comscore) the audience panels providing the data must first be opted in, which is often achieved via incentives (free anti-virus software, of gift vouchers). This further skews the data towards those people who look out for free-gift offers.

Cadillac’s spot, called “Green Hell,” aired at 9:37 Eastern Time, during the game’s “two-minute warning” official timeout, so audiences were literally on the edge of their seats. How many of them stayed there, rather than visiting the loo or fetching another beer is anyone’s guess.

Whilst Cadillac may have scored highest (43.46 for their 30 second spot) in the 100,000 household sample, they are currently only 47th in the Viral Video Chart with a little over 536,000 views and 1,989 shares.

This compares with Volkswagen’s 23 million views and 942,943 shares and Honda with 19.3 million and 360,900 shares, so you can see why I almost choked on my breakfast this morning. All of these are of course online viewing figures, but they likewise portray the behavior of individual people, each of whom have ‘chosen’ to click on a video rather than passively viewing it during a live broadcast.

The lesson? Don’t believe everything you read and make sure you understand how behavioural data has been compiled and the context that it refers to.

It’s good to see Cadillac embracing the Nurburgring so strongly during development of their ATS sports saloon, I just hope they’ve also inherited some of their Germanic competitor’s understatement when it comes to the performance of the car.

Based on the latest Astra GTC, the VXR is powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged direct injection engine producing 276 bhp and a mighty 400Nm of torque. That’s enough for it to easily achieve an electronically limited top speed of 155mph.

While the Astra VXR is based on the new GTC, it has benefited from a raft of bespoke chassis modifications, transforming it into a focused, high-performance coupe.

Setting it apart from all other current Astras is a specially developed mechanical limited slip differential (LSD), which works on the front wheels. In conjunction with the GTC’s sophisticated HiPerStrut (High Performance Strut) design, the LSD provides the Astra VXR with exceptional lateral grip and traction through bends.

Further changes to the chassis include brakes developed by competition supplier, Brembo, and standard fitment of Vauxhall’s fully adaptive FlexRide system. In the Astra VXR, FlexRide features not only a Sport button, but a VXR button, offering drivers the choice of two, more focused stages of damper, throttle and steering control.

Much of the chassis sign-off was carried out at the Nürburgring, and was overseen by Le Mans 24-hour race winner, “Smokin’ Jo” Winkelhock.

At just 4.28 metres long, Vauxhall’s new small SUV can accommodate five adults in comfort. Power is provided by a choice of three engines – 113 bhp 1.6 litre petrol, 138 bhp 1.4-litre Turbo and 128 bhp 1.7 CDTI turbo diesel with 300Nm of torque.

The Astra VXR can be distinguished by a set of specially sculpted front and rear bumpers, side skirts, an aerodynamic roof spoiler and two exhaust tail pipes in a familiar VXR-trapeze shape. Inside, the VXR’s cabin gets bespoke performance seats with embossed logos in the backs, a flat-bottomed VXR steering wheel and upgraded instruments.

Vauxhall’s most powerful diesel engine ever is fitted to the Insignia and will be priced from £27,120 on the road. The twin-sequential turbocharged diesel is based on the existing 1956cc unit which powers key models in the Insignia, Astra and new Zafira Tourer range. However, in BiTurbo form the engine produces up to 35 bhp more power and a significant 50Nm of extra torque, reducing the 0-60mph time by nearly one second to 8.2 seconds for the front-wheel drive Insignia Hatch.

But thanks to a package of eco-efficiency features – including standard Start/Stop across the range – the front-wheel drive Hatch achieves 57.6mpg on the combined cycle, 2.2mpg better than the 158 bhp single-turbo 2.0 CDTi model.

Once we’re wrapped up warm and snug in our cars, neither rain nor snow can disturb our peace. Unless, perhaps if you own an Audi TT Mk2, in which case you might need to plan ahead.

The problem occurred 10 days ago when the drivers-side window on our car failed to close, stopping half way up accompanied by a mechanical graunching noise. The window would rise and fall up to this mid-point, but no further.

Thankfully our cars are parked away in a garage, but it still meant we couldn’t actually go (and park) anywhere, plus of course we no longer needed an outside temperature gauge because we could ‘feel’ every degree below body temperature.

Initial efforts to reset the control unit (by disconnecting the battery) made no difference, so a visit to our nearest Audi dealer (Vindis) was next on the cards.

Now, I’ve bought several Audis in recent years – B7 RS4 Avant, R8 and of course our TT – but I am probably better known for the BMW’s I’ve owned and have an excellent relationship with my local dealer. However Vindis’ approach to resolving our problem left me cold.

Menu-pricing man wouldn’t allow a mechanic to just pop out and take a look/listen at our car, instead we’d have to fork out £85 for a diagnosis. “Either way it’s probably the window regulator that’s just packed up..” he said. To which I replied, “No it isn’t. The electrics are fine, it’s a mechanical failure.”

Menu-pricing man shrugs his shoulders, tells me I could buy the parts myself and try to fix it, but judging by the smirk on his face I got the distinct impression he thought this was akin to crossing the Atlantic in a dinghy.

So, you can probably guess what I did next. Picking up a batch of 9 spare door clips (which are used to attach the inner trim to the door skin), I set about performing my own diagnosis, by removing the door panel and inspecting the window regulator mechanism.

An invaluable resource that I referred to during this process is the UK-run TT Forum and specifically the following post.

It seems a daunting task at first, but providing you’re reasonably competent with your hands, it’s perfectly achievable. This is the o/s door stripped of its trim with the window regulator mechanism still mounted inside.

After stripping the door down I discovered the cable within the window regulator mechanism had frayed and was stuck within one of the plastic pulleys. This is not repairable and Audi do not sell replacement cables, instead you must buy the complete mechanism including cables, clamps, pulleys and most of the structural components inside the door.

A second visit was made to my local dealer to pick up a replacement regulator mechanism (£118 incl VAT – part no. 8J0837462D) and three hours later our TT was back on the road, with a fully functioning drivers window and a warm sense of achievement – or perhaps that was just because the minus 5 degree air temperature was now only on the ‘outside’ of the car.

This is the old window regulator mechanism once removed from the car. You can see why it’s not possible to just replace the cable.

The Implications

Whilst investigating the reason for our TT’s window failure, I came across a great many posts on TT Forum and other Audi communities which show this is a ‘known issue’, so much so that Audi have frequently offered to pay part (if not all) of the repair costs. But it also appears to affect other models in Audi’s range including the A5/S5, which shares a similar frameless door design as the TT.

Beyond the cost of repairing your TT, the other point worth noting is how frequently the failure occurs at the most inconvenient time. There were tales of people driving back home in the pouring rain with the window half open, or going out for the night (or further afield) then having to abandon plans and return home because the car cannot be securely parked.

I read through dozens of similar cases, many of them far worse than our own, which made me feel I was one of the lucky ones.

That graunching sound you hear is the frayed cable trying to pass through this plastic pulley.

Many owners report the same graunching noise (as the cable frays and gets stuck in the mechanism), whilst some have experienced both windows fail within a matter of weeks.

Whilst our car is more than 4 years old, many of the cases I came across afflicted nearly new cars, some less than 12 months old, so we’re talking about a design issue rather than natural wear and tear.

What can you do?

The first thing to say is that every car experiences faults at one time or another, it’s unavoidable, but in this instance it appears that if you own a Mk2 TT then you ‘will’ experience this failure at some point in its life.

So, the first piece of advice is to have it checked over at your next service, or if your concerns are more pressing then ask your dealer to inspect your car, but remember they’ll probably charge nearly £100 for the privilege.

Secondly, don’t try and force your window to close. I found one video on YouTube that made me cringe, and when you realise what causes the failure there really is no point in doing anything other than replacing the mechanism.

It won’t fix itself, and if you keep trying to raise and lower the window you’ll strain the regulator motor which will set you back a further £200 or more to replace.

You can see how badly frayed the cable becomes. This will not fix itself, nor will it magically go away no matter how many times you raise the window.

Should Audi recall the Mk2 TT?

Most recalls are made for safety reasons and apart from the risk of your pride and joy being stolen, there’s no safety risk to this failure – this is all about cost and inconvenience.

Audi will weigh up the risk to customer satisfaction and their brand reputation against the cost of proactively fixing customer cars – but don’t hold your breath – most car makers tend to deal with these issues on a case-by-case basis rather than a very public and costly recall.

If you’ve experienced this problem yourself then let us know in the comments below, I can’t promise a quick fix, but it might just demonstrate how widespread the problem has become.

Likewise if you are currently limping around with your window half-open, pay a visit to the folks at The TT Forum who can point you towards the best DIY guides and offer both words of advice.. and their sympathies.

Combining Nissan’s advanced engine technology, lightweight platform and an aerodynamically efficient body INVITATION is said to achieve class-leading levels of fuel economy and emissions. Nissan is aiming for an ultra-low CO2 emission target of under 100g/km for the most frugal model and with all versions eligible to wear Nissan’s Pure Drive badge.

At the same time, Nissan have designed the INVITATION Concept to offer responsive agile handling on a par with top performers in its segment.

But Nissan’s new concept is not just a good looking car, it’s also packed with some of their most advanced technology such as Around View Monitor (AVM) safety technology, which makes reversing and parallel parking as stress-free as possible, plus Nissan Safety Shield Technologies, which interacts with the driving environment keeping the driver aware of what is happening around the car.

François Bancon, Deputy Divisional General Manager of Product Strategy and Planning, said: “The name we have given to this concept is self-explanatory. It is designed to be inviting thanks to its sensuous exterior design and generous and comfortable interior space, cleverly packaged within compact overall dimensions.”

Due to be unveiled at next month’s Geneva Motor Show, the INVITATION Concept is due to be launched in the UK from 2013.

Gallery

Whilst there are several instances in the 100+ Super Bowl ads, we’re interested in Automotive brands and fortunately there are several juicy ones to take a look at.

The NFL takes issue with Chrysler’s “It’s Halftime in America” commercial

Chrysler’s ad was by far the most ‘moving’ ad of the Super Bowl, featuring Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood narrating the story of Detroit’s Motor City, digging deep despite the tough conditions and coming out fighting for the second half.

How does this grab you? “This country can’t be knocked out with one punch. We get right back up again and when we do the world’s going to hear the roar of our engines. Yeah, it’s half time America and our second half is about to begin.” Powerful stuff.

So, amidst such inspiring poetry it came as something of a surprise when a kerfuffle kicked off as the NFL (Super Bowl rights holders) claimed the ad violated their copyrights. The ad was taken down from YouTube, but then an NFL spokesperson subsequently claimed the league didn’t take the ad down and is now asking Google to investigate.

Something is certainly going on – Chrysler have been frantically contacting publishers and asking us to display their ad, but when we uploaded a copy to YouTube this afternoon it was immediately removed, accompanied by the message “This video has been removed because its content violated YouTube’s Terms of Service. Sorry about that.”

What’s the matter, don’t they like poetry..?

So what was it? A marketing stunt? A misunderstanding, or a media storm contrived from our over-active imagination? Take a look and see for yourself.

Ford lawyers-up over Chevy’s Silverado commercial

Chevy’s Silverado ad takes a direct swipe at rival Ford, as it tells the story of group of men who survive a world-destroying apocalypse (as supposedly predicted by an ancient Mayan calendar), because they all owned Chevrolet Silverado trucks. However, one of their friends (Dave) doesn’t make it.

“Dave didn’t own the longest lasting, most dependable truck on the road,” one of the surviving group says. “Dave bought a Ford.”

Ford, were naturally outraged by such a negative portrayal of their brand and delivered a ‘cease and desist’ order to General Motors, due to the “unsubstantiated and disparaging claims regarding Ford’s pickup trucks.”

Chevrolet, who clearly had no intention of complying with Ford’s request, didn’t just run the ad as planned but have continued to fuel the spat by joining a live web discussion on the automotive blog Jalopnik.

Ford is objecting to the reference that the Chevrolet Silverado is “the longest lasting, most dependable truck on the road”, and said that “..If Chevrolet does not comply with our request (they didn’t) to permanently remove the commercial from its website, its YouTube and Facebook pages and any other internet sites, then Ford will take all appropriate steps to enforce and protect its reputation.”

General Motors (parent company of Chevrolet) remain unrepentant, saying “We stand by our claims in the commercial, that the Silverado is the most dependable, longest lasting full-size pickup on the road.”

Ewanick went on to say, “We can wait until the world ends, and if we need to, we will apologize. In the meantime, people who are really worried about the Mayan calendar coming true should buy a Silverado right away.”

Now that’s just rubbing salt in an already very raw wound…

Toyota serve up some Super Bowl spam on Twitter

As reported in the marketing blog eConsultancy this morning, via a report originally published on The Next Web, Toyota were caught red-handed trying to boost their Camry Effect campaign by sending unsolicited messages to random individuals, apparently based on nothing more than a tweet in their timeline mentioning the Super Bowl.

Here’s what TNW had to say in their article, “In what is probably the worst Twitter promotion I’ve seen on the platform since the company launched in 2006, Toyota has created a slew of accounts and is spamming people about what it is calling the “Camry Effect a Friend’ Giveaway!”. The worst part is that they’re all verified accounts, so while Twitter isn’t involved in the promotion, someone at the company definitely knows about it.”

Toyota subsequently apologised in the following statement, “We apologize to anyone in the Twitterverse who received an unwanted @reply over the past few days. We were excited to share the message of our Camry Effect campaign in a new way and it was never our intention to displease anyone.
We’ve certainly learned from this experience and have suspended the accounts effective immediately to avoid any additional issues.
Kimberley Gardiner, National Digital Marketing & Social Media Manager, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. Inc.”

Embarrassing mistake? Or deliberate tactic to gain exposure? You decide, but as is proven by this article, all 3 brands have certainly drawn attention away from their competitors and become a talking point in sections of the media that wouldn’t normally be talking about their cars.

We took a sample of the data yesterday, to provide for a pre and post-game view of the main contenders, and learned that Honda’s Ferris Bueler themed videos were firmly in the lead for views, if not social shares. 

But less than 18 hours later, the leaderboard has changed to underline just how competitive the battle has become.

First things first, if you were following the Twitter feed last night of @unrulymedia or @VideoChart, then you’ll have noticed the following stats;

1. <40 million people were estimated to have shared their favourite ads online 'after' the game (35 million of these via Facebook)
2. It was estimated that 2.5 million people would send their favourite Super Bowl ads to their friends using YouTube 
3. The highest tweets per second came at the end of the game – 12,233, followed by the second highest during Madonna’s performance, reaching 10,245 tweets per second.
4. Whilst in the final 3 minutes of the Super Bowl game, an average of 10,000 tweets per second were sent. 

If you’re head’s not spinning from those numbers, then let’s take a look at the Automotive brands and what changed on our scoreboard overnight.

Yesterday’s Pre-game data (as of 05/2/2012 at 17:00 GMT)

The post-game reckoning

Since yesterday evening our Top 10 Super Bowl Ads gained 15.2 million views between them – climbing from a total of 54 million to 69 million views.  The biggest gains were made by Volkswagen, with “Bark Side” climbing from 11.9 million views to 23.9 million and social shares rising modestly from 692,825 to 705,760. 

The second of Volkswagen’s Super Bowl ads, and the main feature spot during the game, “The Dog Strikes Back”, rose from 3.8 million up to 4.65 million views and from 118,712 to 145,982 social shares, proving that audiences are more interested in a dog symphony than the re-creation of a Star Wars pub in Tatooine.  Nevertheless, when combined Volkswagen’s Super Bowl ads are now back ahead of the competition with 28.55 million views and 851,742 shares.

After a surge leading up to Super Bowl 46, Honda’s Ferris Bueler inspired ads, “Coming Soon” and “Matthew’s Day Off”, have suddenly stalled, rising only 850,000 views overnight from 16.6 million to 17.45 million views. 

Honda’s luxury brand Acura performed slightly better, rising 1.4 million views from 14.1 million to 15.5 million and from 50,568 to 55,599 shares.

The Automotive sector remained dominant, although we lost 1 brand from the Top 10 (Kia Optima: “A Dream Car. For Real Life.”) and a few new entrants joined the race to become king of the Super Bowl car ads.

You’d be brave man (or woman) to bet against Volkswagen, but then let’s wait and see once the bulk of social sharing occurs during the next few weeks.  The acid test for a viral video is when its meme is adopted and re-personalised by ordinary people, when it moves outside the reach of paid promotion and connects with a wider audience reached through social and earned media.

Judging by the comments coming through on our YouTube channel, many people are only ‘just’ discovering these ads, so there’s plenty more to learn as these campaigns start to become talking points (or not) in environments outside the influence of their promoting brand.