Just when you thought TV ads couldn't get any more bizarre: The Chevro-Benz SUV

Does this look like the interior of a Mercedes-Benz?

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

When you own a Tesla Model S, the inane TV commercials other manufacturers run can drive you crazy.

Tesla Motors doesn't spend tens of millions of dollars to advertise on TV or in newspapers and magazines, which may be at the root of the media's hostility toward the all-electric luxury car and the genius behind it, Elon Musk.

But just about every other manufacturers does, and the cost of those ads boosts the MSRP of the vehicle you buy. 

And now ... the Chevro-Benz

In northern New Jersey, where I live, I've seen a TV commercial showing prospective SUV buyers sitting in a Chevrolet and enthusing over how the interior looks like one in a far more expensive vehicle.

In turn, different people say they think they are in a Lexus, Infiniti, Audi, BMW and even a Mercedes-Benz.

What were they smoking?

They are shown in several gas-guzzling Chevy SUVs, including the enormous Suburban.

When I was working for fleet management companies for a measly $12 an hour, I drove a lot of SUVs from Mercedes, other German manufacturers, Lexus and Infiniti, and I can tell you none of them look or feel like the far cheaper Chevy. 

LOL.

From the ridiculous to the sublime: Did same ad agency do TV spots for Infiniti?

Did you see the latest TV commercial for Tesla Motors' Model S? Of course not. Thankfully, Tesla doesn't advertise and try the patience of TV viewers who would do anything to avoid sitting through another idiotic spot from Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Cadillac and the Japanese luxury brands.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

How about that TV commercial for the Infiniti Q-Something, the one with the bored young man sitting in the back seat of a luxury sedan as it speeds down the highway on top of a car carrier?

Turns out the car has a so-called revolutionary feature, but you don't find out what that is until the male model, his face covered in a two-day-old beard, climbs behind the wheel and actually drives the car off of the truck in reverse, then speeds off down the highway.

How did they do that without tearing up the transmission, transaxle and so forth?

Adaptive steering?

Then it's revealed. This Infiniti Q-Something claims to be the only car with "direct adaptive steering."

What the hell is that? I can adjust the steering in my Tesla Model S from "comfort" to "standard" to "sport."

Do I have "direct adaptive steering," too? Even if I did, I'd never buy a car for that reason alone.

Then, Infiniti runs other TV commercials, emphasizing the safety of rear-view cameras and warning systems when backing up in its gas-guzzling SUVs, each of which could squash you like a bug.

Did the same ad agency do the two commercials for Nissan's luxury division?

What were they saying when the Infiniti-on-the-car-carrier commercial was being discussed?

Look-alike luxury cars

The ad agency was probably looking for a dramatic way to distinguish the Infiniti sedan from similar cars sold by Lexus and Acura.

But why would anyone who saw that bizarre TV spot run out to buy the Infiniti over the others?