Why Stellantis Skipped Super Bowl LVIII, and the Big Game Ad Legacy It Walked Away From

Stellantis Opts Out of Super Bowl LVIII

Stellantis, the parent company of Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Chrysler, confirmed in early January 2024 that it would not buy time in Super Bowl LVIII. For most automakers, skipping the game is a budget line. For this company it meant something more. Its Detroit-based predecessors made some of the most talked-about commercials in Super Bowl history, and now it was stepping off the stage it helped define.

The company’s explanation was all business. A Stellantis spokesperson said, “With a continued focus on preserving business fundamentals to mitigate the impact of a challenging U.S. automotive market, we are evaluating our business needs and will take the appropriate decisions to protect our North America operations and the Company.”

In a statement to The Hill, the company added, “In light of this assessment, we will not be participating in the Big Game this year.”

The Strike Bill Came Due

Stellantis wasn’t the first to blink. General Motors had already said in November 2023 that it would skip the game, and Reuters noted how unusual it was for Stellantis, a company that has used the Super Bowl for major campaigns, to sit out. With a 30-second spot in the 2023 game going for close to $7 million, the math was hard to ignore.

The timing points straight back to the fall of 2023. Both Stellantis and GM were targets of the six-week United Auto Workers strike, which ended with new contracts ratified in mid-November that included 25% wage increases and the return of cost-of-living adjustments. GM put its own strike losses at about $1.1 billion, mostly from lost production. Stellantis, facing similar pressure on its U.S. operations, chose to cut one of the most visible marketing expenses on the calendar.

The Big Game Ads Stellantis Made Famous

To understand why this one stung, you have to look at what the company had put on the Super Bowl stage. Under marketing chief Olivier François, who was inducted into the American Advertising Federation’s Advertising Hall of Fame in 2024, Chrysler and its sister brands kept turning commercials into cultural moments:

• 2011, Chrysler “Imported from Detroit” (also known as “Born of Fire”): Eminem and the Chrysler 200 in what Stellantis calls the first two-minute commercial in Super Bowl history. It won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Commercial.
• 2012, Chrysler “Halftime in America”: Clint Eastwood’s two-minute pep talk for a country in hard times, including the line “This country can’t be knocked out in one punch. We get back up again.”
• 2013, Ram “Farmer”: two minutes of farm photography set to radio legend Paul Harvey’s speech, later named Nielsen’s automotive ad of the year.
• 2020, Jeep “Groundhog Day”: Bill Murray reprising Phil Connors for a game that fell on Groundhog Day. It won USA Today’s Ad Meter.
• 2021, Jeep “The Middle”: Bruce Springsteen’s first appearance in a TV commercial for any brand, a two-minute call for common ground.
• 2023, Ram “Premature Electrification”: a joke about EV anxiety that pointed viewers to reservations for Ram’s coming electric pickup.

Only Ford and Toyota Were Left, Then Only Toyota

When Stellantis made its call, Ford and Toyota were the only big names that hadn’t ruled anything out for truck and car ads. In the end Ford didn’t run a game-day spot either, and Toyota came back in with a Tacoma commercial. Kia, BMW and Volkswagen filled the rest of the automotive slots. The full game-day lineup, and how the industry’s pullback played out over the next two Super Bowls, is in our companion story linked below.

Update: Stellantis Came Back in 2025, Then Stepped Out Again

Update, October 2026. The 2024 absence turned out to be a one-year pause. For Super Bowl LIX on February 9, 2025, Stellantis was the only automaker on the broadcast. Jeep ran “Owner’s Manual,” a two-minute film starring Harrison Ford, directed by James Mangold and created in-house, a first for a Stellantis Big Game commercial. Ford’s closing line was pure Stellantis Super Bowl: “This Jeep makes me happy … even though my name is Ford.” Ram ran a comedic “Goldilocks and the Three Trucks” spot with Glen Powell.

For Super Bowl LX in February 2026, Stellantis sat out again. According to CarPro, it chose to put its marketing money into longer-term branding tied to upcoming national milestones, and Jeep released a Cherokee hybrid commercial online during the week before the game instead of buying in-game time. The company that invented the two-minute Super Bowl ad now treats the game as optional, and that may be the clearest sign of how much car marketing has changed.

For the industry-wide side of the story, see how the Big Four automakers walked away from Super Bowl ads, and who filled the gap from 2024 to 2026.

Sources: The Hill; Reuters; Stellantis Media (“Big Game Advertising Heritage” releases, 2021 and 2025); MediaPost; CarPro.

Note To Reader: Car Nut Chronicles is reader supported. We may post content which contains links to affiliate sites such as Amazon where we may earn a small commission. This helps us keep the lights on and the articles you enjoy being produced. Thank you for your readership, we appreciate you!