2015 Kia Sorento Sx on 2040-cars

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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.

Kia offers first glimpse at new Optima ahead of New York debut

The Optima is far and away Kia's top-selling model in America, outstripping anything else in the Korean automaker's lineup by some margin. But after four years, Kia is set to roll out an all-new model at the New York Auto Show next week. Before it does, though, it is giving us our first glimpse at the new sedan with the image above. Previewed by the Sportspace concept earlier this month in Geneva and in the pair of teaser renderings from last week, the new Optima should be instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with the current model – particularly from the front end we see here. The headlights line up with the tiger-nose grille, but now bear a little kink in the lower edge, and the full-width lower air dam has now been split between a taller center section flanked by twin vents. That front fender vent is still evident, a black roof is once again framed by the body-color window surrounds, but the hood appears more sculpted. Kia says the new Optima will be "available with multiple engine choices" and "features a more spacious interior, class-up premium features and a number of technologies not previously offered on Kia's best-selling midsize sedan." Just what those engine options and new technologies will be, we can't say for sure at this point, but the current model is offered around the world with a range of four-cylinder gasoline, diesel and hybrid engine options. We'll just have to wait another week or so to find out more. ALL-NEW 2016 KIA OPTIMA MAKES GLOBAL DEBUT AT NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL AUTO SHOW Instantly recognizable yet thoroughly fresh, Kia will introduce the all-new 2016 Optima at the upcoming New York Auto Show on April 1st at 1:20 PM. Available with multiple engine choices, the all-new Optima features a more spacious interior, class-up premium features and a number of technologies not previously offered on Kia's best-selling mid-size sedan. #KiaOptima #NYIAS

Don't call it a minivan: Kia previews new Sedona Grand Utility Vehicle

Kia sells more crossovers than ever, but it's not forgetting about its entry into the minivan segment. It released a design sketch to preview the next-generation Carnival, which is known as the Sedona in the United States. Stylists shun the increasingly unpopular minivan label; they claim they've created a Grand Utility Vehicle whose design is more stylish, more futuristic, and, somewhat inevitably, more SUV-like than the outgoing model's. The sketch released by the South Korean firm indicates the Sedona's front end receives a taller, flatter hood, a bigger grille with vertical slats and a chrome-look frame, plus thin horizontal lights accented by LED elements. Its overall proportions don't drastically change, no one's going to mistake it for a Stinger, but blacked-out door pillars create the illusion of a floating roof. We don't know what the rear end looks like yet, though the company noted the horizontal crease below the window line links the lights on both ends. The alloys are gigantic, but keep in mind we're looking at a design sketch. The production model will ride on smaller wheels with more sidewall. We'll need to muster a little bit of patience to find out what the Sedona looks like inside, or what its sheetmetal hides. Practicality is the name of the game in the minivan segment, so Kia will likely pack an array of clever features into the van to make commuting, kid-hauling, and road-tripping easier. Seeing a hybrid powertrain join the specifications sheet would make sense considering the market's on-going shift towards electrification, but nothing has been confirmed at this point. The current-generation Sedona receives a 3.3-liter, 276-horsepower V6 for the American market, and we wouldn't be surprised if it downsizes to a turbocharged four-cylinder. Kia will introduce the fourth-generation Carnival this summer, and the model will go on sale in its home country in the third quarter. It will begin arriving in other global markets shortly after. Although the company didn't specifically mention the United States, we'd bet on seeing it in showrooms as a 2021 model. Minivans are getting their lunch money taken by crossovers here, but the segment remains reasonably big. Kia is one of its underdogs: It sold 16,000 examples of the Sedona in 2019, while Honda and Chrysler each found nearly 100,000 buyers for the Odyssey and the Pacifica, respectively, and Toyota reported 73,585 Sienna sales.