From Fortune:

For the first time in 23 years, none of America’s four largest automakers will air national Super Bowl ads. Slowing consumer demand and high interest rates are pressuring Ford, Toyota, GM, and Chrysler parent company Stellantis into cutting back on their ad spend.

The auto industry could be facing a long hangover after a brutal 2023. Legacy manufacturers had poured roughly $100 billion into mass-market EV production as of November, but sales lagged behind projections, and most models are still too expensive for the average consumer.

The EV sector is facing challenges due to lagging sales, reliability issues, and expensive production costs. Even Tesla, the industry leader, reported its first quarterly loss since 2020 and lost over $94 billion in market valuation in the first two weeks of 2024. The broader industry outlook is also poor, with cooling consumer demand and manufacturing disruptions.

Kia and Volkswagen are stepping up to promote their EV offerings during the Super Bowl, with each reporting over 60 percent annual sales growth as of last October. However, both still lag well behind Tesla, which commands a whopping 56.5 percent of the new EV market.

Part of the reason the Big Four automakers have passed on Super Bowl ads could be timing, as some of them don’t have major new products to advertise at the moment. Toyota, for example, doesn’t have a vehicle that needs to be advertised at the level of exposure that Super Bowl ads provide.

Overall, the U.S. automotive market is facing challenges, and the industry could be in for a tough year ahead.



Read more: None of the Big 3 Detroit car makers Ford, GM and Stellantis are buying Super Bowl commercials for the first time since 2001