Kia leans into Super Bowl while others sit out

With the Super Bowl just two weeks away, Kia stands alone as the only automaker that has committed to running a commercial at this point.

The Korean brand, which has been a Super Bowl staple, will highlight the popular three-row Telluride. The utility vehicle has been freshened for the 2023 model year.

Kia sees the Super Bowl stage as a key piece in building awareness. It is pushing the Telluride during the game because the company "increased production in the [West Point, Ga.] plant, starting in September, by 20 percent, so we need to make sure we keep telling people to keep the demand," said Russell Wager, Kia America's vice president of marketing.

The brand will start rolling out a sneak peek of the Super Bowl campaign after Feb. 1.

Wager said Kia will continue to be aggressive with its updated portfolio, which includes the battery electric EV6, the freshened Telluride and the redesigned fifth-generation Sportage.

Kia is riding momentum as it heads into the game. The company's U.S. sales nearly broke even in 2022, down just 1.1 percent, in a market that declined by 8 percent as a whole.

Telluride deliveries were up 6.6 percent last year and set a full-year sales record. The Sportage and Sorento also achieved annual sales records in 2022.

Eric Watson, Kia America's vice president of sales operations, said it's been 3½ years since Kia launched the Telluride, but "we still have a wait-list at every dealer for customers waiting for that vehicle to come in. Probably our most popular product in our lineup."

Kia sees this as a time to keep grabbing consumer attention while other manufacturers sit out the Super Bowl.

"We're not taking our foot off the accelerator," Wager told Automotive News. "We've got growth plans. We're also going into our first full year of Sportage, our first full year of EV6, our first full year of the new 2023 Telluride. We've got a lot of stories to tell. And with that, we've got to tell a lot more people if we want to achieve our growth. So we're happy that everyone else is deciding to slow down a little bit — we have no plans to do that."