Fiat Taps Charlie Sheen for New Ad

If J.Lo couldn't sell Fiats, does Charlie Sheen have a chance? Chrysler Group is launching a new ad for the Fiat 500 Abarth model staring the troubled bad-boy actor and his electronic monitoring ankle bracelet. Luckily, Catrinel Menghia, the Romanian model who starred in the car's "Seduction" Super Bowl XLVI commercial also makes a cameo in the new ad.

In the 60-second "House Arrest" spot, Sheen, badly in need of a haircut, joyrides through the hallways of a party-filled mansion behind the wheel of a Fiat 500 Abarth. He power slides to a stop and exits the Abarth with his house-arrest ankle monitor on full display. Sheen, prone to outrageous media stunts and incomprehensible rants, is an unlikely spokesman for the Fiat brand. Or is he?

The Top 10 Car Commercials of Super Bowl XLVI

This year, automakers blitzed the commercial breaks of perhaps the most watched football game of all time like never before. Some automakers like Chevy had five different commercials, and Kia had three. How did they do? We rate the top 10 below along with the YouTube videos of each. Don’t worry; we’ve also posted all the ads we didn’t think rated well, so you can fully weigh in with your own ratings.

Help Raise $100,000 for Cars Cares

Super Bowl XLVI will once again have millions of people tuning in … for the commercials. Between the Manning/Brady showdown you'll see Cars.com's commercial, "Confident You." While the commercial is playing, use the popular mobile application Shazam to tag it and Cars.com will donate $1 to one of seven deserving charities.

You can vote on which charity should receive the maximum donation of $100,000 by visiting Cars.com's Facebook page, where you can now watch Cars.com's Super Bowl commercial. However, the Shazam tag won’t go into effect until Super Bowl Sunday on Feb. 5.

Cars Cares on Facebook

Watch the Cars.com Super Bowl Commercial

Cars.com is advertising in its fifth Super Bowl on Feb. 5 at Super Bowl XLVI, but you can see the commercial, "Confident You," starting today. Just go to our Facebook page and you’ll be greeted with the 30-second spot.

While on Facebook, take a second to vote for a deserving charity as part of a $100,000 donation Cars.com will make on Feb. 20.

Cars.com Super Bowl Commercial

Have a Laugh Before Game Day With Jimmy Kimmel

Cars.com is sponsoring "Jimmy Kimmel Live" this month and sending show personality Yehya to the best tailgating schools in the country. Last week he stopped by Arizona State in the video above. Maybe he'll be in your school's parking lot today.

Cars.com Returns to the Super Bowl

Today, Cars.com is happy to announce it will be returning to the Super Bowl as an advertiser. For the past four years, Cars.com has delivered some of the most memorable ads showcasing the site's ability to connect car shoppers with the right car for them.

This year will be no different, and we can't wait to see the 30-second spot ourselves. Until then, we're asking our Facebook fans what their favorite Cars.com commercial of the past four years has been. Go check it out on our wall and vote for the top spot. Personally, Glondor still makes me laugh.

Henry Rollins: Infiniti's Hardcore Voiceover Man

Celebrities’ lending their voices for commercials has been a huge trend in the automotive world the past few years. Hyundai made a splash getting Jeff Bridges as its gruff-but-soulful pitchman. Mercedes-Benz’s new cars are pushed by Jon Hamm, who portrays ’60s ad exec Don Draper in “Mad Men.” And Chevy uses everyman comedian Tim Allen to sell everything from big trucks to electric Volts.

A few weeks ago when I heard on the radio the unmistakable voice of underground music icon Henry Rollins talking about Infiniti’s latest sales event, I assumed the Japanese luxury brand decided to follow the trend and simply picked someone with more “attitude.”

Rollins is Infiniti’s voice, but he wasn’t handpicked because of his considerable persona. It was his voice, with no name attached, that won him the job.

BMW Launches Campaign Against Texting While Driving

In an effort to help curtail one of the main culprits of distracted driving — texting while behind the wheel — BMW said it will launch a national advertising campaign to fight the habit.

The campaign is called “DON’T TXT & DRIVE,” which is a play on the abbreviated texting language. The commercial shown above is especially compelling. The ad shows several children and the great lengths their parents will go to secure their safety. The entire commercial is pretty happy-go-lucky until the final scene, when a mother who has fastidiously secured her young toddler into a child-safety seat ends up being distracted by her chirping mobile device, with presumably deadly results.

Another ad, which will appear in magazines, shows a distracted driver with a smartphone in one hand and the other hand on the wheel. The phone’s screen shows a dot-matrix outline of a child darting into the street after a ball. Ads will appear online, in print and on radio as well, all of which is set to run this month.

The ads are supposed to lend awareness to the hazards of distracting driving. In 2009, nearly 5,500 people were killed in crashes involving distracted drivers, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. NHTSA also found that nearly 87% of teens admit to texting while driving.

What do you think of the BMW ad? Is it too much or not enough?

Locked Out Detroit Lion Selling Chryslers

What do you do when you can’t work because of labor struggles? For NFL Rookie of the Year Ndamukong Suh, you star in the latest commercial from Chrysler touting its redesigned 300 sedan.

The spot above has a similar vibe to the Chrysler 200 commercial that Eminem made famous during Super Bowl XLV, but it obviously doesn’t have a soundtrack of the rapper’s music in it.

Suh is shown driving a 300 through his hometown of Portland, Ore., shrouded in rain and gloom. The Detroit Lions star is clearly the pitchman — without saying a word — because of the team he plays for … or will play for when the NFL decides to start up again.

Imported From Detroit T-Shirts are Pricey

One of the most impressive car commercials from this year’s Super Bowl was Chrysler’s featuring rapper Eminem and the tag line “Imported From Detroit.” Chrysler has been basking in the glow of this advertising success story, but we wonder if the tag line resonated with those outside the auto industry or even outside of Michigan.

That doesn’t seem to matter to Chrysler. It’s already whipped up T-shirts with the tag line and a retro graphic and are selling them online for a whopping $29.95. That’s rock concert pricing, right there.

Oh, and the shirts are made in the USA.

Via Twitter @TheGMSource