To Kia marketers, basketball image is a slam dunk

No wonder Kia likes basketball. It made hay, in the public relations way, last year when Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers wowed the crowd in the slam-dunk contest at the NBA all-star game by leaping over a Kia Optima before stuffing the ball through the hoop.

Every sports show on every TV station ran the clip repeatedly during the weekend of the game -- a gold mine of free publicity for Kia, a sponsor of the Clippers.

So Kia tried to keep those good basketball vibes alive at the Detroit auto show with this tricked-out basketball-themed, pebble-finished Optima.