Super Bowl Car Ads 2024 to 2026: Detroit Walked Away, Here’s Who Filled the Gap

Super Bowl LVIII: The Year the Big Four Said No

For a generation, the Super Bowl was the auto industry’s biggest stage. Heading into Super Bowl LVIII on February 11, 2024, that tradition hit a wall. As reported by Ad Age in January 2024, none of the four largest automakers selling in America (General Motors, Toyota, Ford and Stellantis) had planned a national in-game commercial. That would be the first time since 2001, with a 30-second spot running about $7 million. Instead, the brands lining up were mostly foreign-owned names like Kia and Volkswagen.

Each of the four gave a different reason, and only one tied it to money out loud. Stellantis said it was protecting business fundamentals in a tough U.S. market. GM confirmed none of its brands would advertise and said its media plans followed its business priorities. Toyota, the NFL’s official automotive sponsor, said it would “activate on the ground” around the game instead. Ford didn’t comment right away. (We dug into the Stellantis decision, and the famous ads it gave up, in a separate story linked below.)

The Money Behind the Pullback

Nobody said “EVs” when explaining why they were sitting out, but the earnings told the story. Legacy automakers had committed roughly $100 billion to mass-market electric vehicles by late 2023, and the return was slower than planned. Ford guided to about a $4.5 billion loss for its EV unit in 2023, and GM pulled back its EV production targets as demand cooled. Many EVs were still too expensive for the average buyer even with tax credits.

At the same time, the market as a whole was recovering, not booming. U.S. new-vehicle sales rose about 12% in 2023 but were still below pre-pandemic levels, and the six-week UAW strike in the fall had cost Detroit billions in lost production. High interest rates were squeezing buyers. With that backdrop, a $7 million half-minute was an easy line to cut. Timing mattered too. Morningstar analyst David Whiston noted that these ads are expensive and that Toyota, without a major launch lined up for the February 11 game, might not have a vehicle that needed that kind of exposure.

Game Day, February 11, 2024: Who Actually Bought Time

When the Chiefs and 49ers kicked off at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, the car ads that aired told you exactly where the money was going: electrification and nostalgia. Here’s the automotive lineup that actually ran during the game:

• Kia, “Perfect 10”: the EV9 three-row electric SUV powers the lights for a young figure skater performing for her grandfather, a showcase for the EV9’s vehicle-to-load capability.
• BMW, “Talkin’ Like Walken”: Christopher Walken in an i5 while everyone around him, Usher included, does a bad Walken impression. BMW was back after skipping 2023.
• Volkswagen, “An American Love Story”: VW’s first Super Bowl ad since 2014, marking 75 years in the U.S., set to Neil Diamond’s “I Am… I Said” and ending on the ID. Buzz.
• Toyota, “Dareful Handle”: the most powerful Tacoma ever and every nickname passengers have for the grab handle. According to Ad Age, Toyota had planned to skip the game until CBS came calling.
• Kawasaki, “Mullets”: not a car, but its RIDGE side-by-side grabbed a spot too.

So the “Big Four” boycott ended up being a Detroit Three boycott. Toyota made it onto the broadcast after all, while GM, Ford and Stellantis stayed off it. The foreign brands that showed up were the ones with fresh EVs to sell.

2025 and 2026: A Comeback That Did Not Stick

Update, October 2026. The 2024 pullback turned out to be a trend, not a blip. For Super Bowl LIX on February 9, 2025, Stellantis was the only automaker to buy time, with a two-minute Jeep film starring Harrison Ford and a Ram spot starring Glen Powell. WardsAuto, citing iSpot, put it in perspective: back in 2012, automakers accounted for 40% of all brand ad time during the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl LX on February 8, 2026 at Levi’s Stadium was thinner still. Toyota ran two 30-second spots, “Superhero Belt” with a 1997 and an all-new 2026 RAV4, and “Where Dreams Began” with Puka Nacua, Oksana Masters and Bubba Wallace. Volkswagen revived its 1990s “Drivers Wanted” line with the ID. Buzz. Ford, GM and Stellantis all sat out, and Jeep released a Cherokee hybrid spot during the week before the game rather than during it. Forbes put the going rate at about $8 million per 30 seconds.

The pattern is clear. Automakers haven’t stopped advertising around football. As CarPro put it ahead of the 2026 game, the industry has shifted toward targeted, year-round campaigns over one-night spectacles, and pre-game online releases like Jeep’s can get attention without the Super Bowl price tag. The big game has become a stage automakers rent only when they have something specific to launch.

For the Stellantis side of the story, see why Stellantis skipped Super Bowl LVIII and the Big Game ads it walked away from.

Sources: Ad Age reporting via Hagerty; Digital Dealer; CNBC; WardsAuto/iSpot; Toyota Newsroom; CarPro; Forbes.

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