Auto Industry News: KOH 2023, Best Super Bowl Ads, J.D. Power Dependability, & More Hacking

KOH 2023 action went open throttle this past week, with multiple major races hitting in quick succession. The main attraction, the Nitto Race of Kings, wrapped up Saturday; and after a grueling display of guts and dust where only 35 competitors finished out of 107, Raul Gomez took home the crown. Learn more about his push to victory, as well as quick-hit recaps of the Shootout, UTV Championship, and Every Man Challenge in this week’s new roundup.

Plus, J.D. Power released results from its latest dependability survey, Toyota faced off white-hat hackers, and automakers’ marketing departments vie for best Super Bowl commercial.

KOH 2023 Recap

After more than two full weeks of dirt-flinging action, the gates to Hammertown are officially closed and the King of the Hammers crowned. The event was bigger and longer than ever this year, with 946 teams entered from across the U.S. and multiple countries racing for a prize purse of $840,000.

Still, only one would be the official king — and bragging rights went to Raul Gomez. This is Gomez’s second victory in as many years, proving that his single-seat UFO Fabrication buggy and balls-to-the-walls driving style were no one-hit wonder combo last time around.

After qualifying fourth, Gomez stayed at the front of the pack for the entire race. He battled a treacherous minefield of rock-filled canyons and grueling desert loops — a course he pre-ran an incredible seven times in preparation for race day. All that practice paid off, as did a little winching help from his son Darian in Sledgehammer on the third and final lap.

Darian’s help secured his father the precious moments he needed to beat three-time king and race leader Jason Scherer. When the dust settled – and the time corrected – Gomez finished 5:45:27 to Scherer’s 5:46:16.

Third place went to another former king, 2020 winner Josh Blyler (5:59:35), creating a carbon copy podium from last year. Sharing in the glory were Blyler’s father Rusty in fourth (6:12:54) and Randy Slawson in fifth (6:24:07).

While the Nitto Race of Kings was the main event, it was hardly the only heart-pumping action happening in Johnson Valley this past week. Here are some quick-hit recaps from other major races at this year’s King of the Hammers.

Holley EFI Shootout

The Holley EFI Shootout kicked off on Tuesday night, under bright spotlights to the soundtrack of screaming fans. Essentially a drag race over rocks, the beloved grassroots event has a reputation for rollovers and this year was no different. Carnage came fast and furious, with the second competitor rolling his rig and recovery being a major theme of the evening.

Contributing to attrition was the fact that this was the first year the Shootout started with racers heading fast downhill – or, more specifically, piloting a 100-150 ft drop down a sheer rocky section called Idle Issues that ended in a tight right turn into a bottomless pit of loose, deep sand. After scrambling for traction, racers went wide-open throttle into the rocks of Chocolate Thunder, a KOH fan-favorite trail.

Paul Wolff ultimately took the win, his second in as many years. His 4400 Class Ultra4 car conquered the course in 51.73 seconds. Rounding out the podium were 2021’s champ Chris Kaufman in second place (54.14) and Corey Holthaus (56.98) in third.

Can-Am UTV Hammers Championship

After a brutal qualifying on Wednesday that served to remind teams what the Hammers is all about, the 2023 Can-Am UTV Hammers Championship got underway on Thursday afternoon.

More than 100 racers took the line with Jay Shaw in pole position, EFI Shootout champ Paul Wolff hot on his tail, and Bryce Menzies making a mad dash forward from seventh place. Kyle Chaney eventually took the lead, however, and didn’t let go – nabbing the overall victory and first in the Pro Stock Turbo class with an impressively quick time of 3:31:45.

Fellow Can-Am driver, Phil Blurton, took second overall and first in Pro-Mod class (3:44:16). Just under a minute behind was Cole Clark, who placed third overall and second in Pro-Mod class (3:45:04).

In a great show of sportsmanship, fifth-place finisher Hunter Miller got over the line with a little help from his friends. Fellow Can-Am teammates Chad Hughes, Dustin Henderson, and Dustin “Battle Axe” Jones (who came in fourth) helped him make a literal push to the finish.

4WP Every Man Challenge

Another fan-favorite, the Every Man Challenge is where folks can catch non-professional drivers in stock and lightly-modified rigs duking it out with the pros on a course very similar to that of the flagship race. This year’s running saw over 150 teams across three different classes tackle a 143-mile course consisting of blistering open desert and bone-jarring rocky canyons.

Perhaps it was kismet then, that the man to win a spine-rattling race was a chiropractor from Wyoming. Jeremy Jones landed atop the podium this year, with a two-lap winning time of 4:42:52 in the 4800 Legends class. Behind him was fellow 4800 class entry Scott Foley in second (5:01:54), and 4500 Modified class winner Duane Garretson in third (5:16:17). In the 4600 Stock class, victory went to Loren Healy and Vaughn Gittin Jr., whose teamwork saw them nab fourth overall (5:19:27).

Super Bowl Superlatives

With inflation high and supply chains still in snarls, automakers are showing more caution with their spending money – and it was apparent during this year’s Super Bowl. Only four brands purchased spots during the event, three if you consider the fact that two of them sit under the same parent company. Cost estimates placed a 30-second advertisement at about $7 million.

GM, Kia, Jeep and RAM all made room in their budgets, with marketing departments heading in wildly different directions. Below are our impressions of the final results – let us know in the comments which ones landed with you, and what was a miss.

Most Confusing – Jeep

Set to an updated version of the Electric Slide – a song that truly should have been left dead and buried in the 90s – a group of people explore the great outdoors in 4xe Jeep vehicles while CGI animals get their “Boogie Woogie Woogie” on in the background.

https://twitter.com/Jeep/status/1624732607278612482

We think the point here was to highlight the quiet and eco-friendly nature of hybrid and electric vehicle technologies, since it sort of picks up where last year’s advertisement “Earth Odyssey” left off. (A truly enjoyable minute of marketing, best viewed with the captions on.)

Are cute little woodland creatures “getting their groove on” in nature adorable? Of course! But it’s also confusing, particularly when those animals are dancing to music bumping out of a Jeep that’s plowing through their front yard at speed.

We’re all for hitting the trails – and leaving them like we found them – but we don’t delude ourselves into thinking the local flora and fauna are tickled by our presence. This one was a miss for us.

Most Strategic – GM

Funnyman Will Ferrell drives a variety of new electric GM vehicles right into the storylines of various Netflix shows to explain how the automaker and streaming giant are teaming up to “give EVs the stage they deserve” – but only where it makes sense. (That means, you won’t be seeing an electric Cadillac during those spicy Bridgerton scenes, or a Silverado EV running from Vecna in Stranger Things.)

Clever and informative, the ad is successful. Even those who don’t watch Netflix or aren’t fans of Ferrell understand the marketing department’s intentions here. (Are you taking notes, Jeep?)

Also, we can’t help but be impressed by GM’s audacity of not just calling attention to subliminal advertising, but actually giving folks the heads up. Marketing is officially getting meta.

Most Original – Kia

A desperate dad races through snowbanks, construction sites and even a football game in a mad dash to retrieve his baby daughter’s favorite binky and save his family’s vacation getaway. His progress is tracked – and cheered – by millions of people on social media, and he returns to the hotel only to discover he grabbed the wrong pacifier.

Parents take a lot of heat these days for the lengths they’ll go to in order to keep their children happy. This ad does a good job of capturing that sense of exhausted desperation that often leads to defeated laughter.

Ultimately, it’s a cute advertisement that many folks can commiserate with, and it plays with the idea of “rugged SUVs” and “great adventures” in a way that shows Kia doesn’t take itself too seriously. Thumbs up from us.

Most Laugh-Out-Loud Funny – RAM

Comedian and Canadian treasure Jason Jones introduces RAM’s new electric pickup truck in a mock pharmaceutical ad addressing “premature electrification,” while various couples make innuendo-heavy statements about “not being able to hold a charge.”

Poking very obvious fun at male enhancement commercials, this ad was likely met with either an uproar of laughter or stony silence when it aired during the big game. Either way, it elicited a reaction and comment threads across the internet are still buzzing about it. Personally, we found it to be an absolutely hysterical crack at the brand’s lateness to the EV space and a very clever way to encourage people to “wait and see.”

Vehicle Dependability Mixed Bag Thanks to New Tech

Last week, J.D. Power dropped the results of its 2023 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study. It appears that while automakers are showing better overall dependability, premium brands are losing their edge against mass-market models thanks to complex technology.

Two upscale brands still managed to take top honors, with Lexus unseating Kia to reclaim its #1 spot from 2021 and Genesis rising from fourth position into #2. Kia, for its part, doesn’t go far. The brand drops into third place, making it the top mass-market brand in terms of dependability.

According to J.D. Power, mass-market brands are now leading the industry’s improvement for fewer problems per vehicle.

Overall, the segment showed roughly 182 problems per 100 vehicles (182 PP100). This is 8 PP100 less than last year. Premium rides, however, have an average 205 PP100 – marking the widest gap in improvement between the two segments since the study launched 34 years ago.

J.D. Power says the split began forming in 2016, when premium vehicle manufacturers began loading up their rides with complex bells and whistles more prone to operating issues.

Technology remains a major sticking point. Infotainment tops the study’s list of gripes, representing twice as many problems as the next closest category (exterior). Owners report the most issues to be with voice recognition and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto connectivity.

Toyota Hacking Incident

Speaking of buggy technology, Toyota got some unwanted attention when a white hat hacker group breached the brand’s global supplier management web portal and gained access to 14,000 corporate email accounts.

“White hat” hackers are like a well-intending community watch group, using their cyber skills to expose loopholes so company’s can close them. This breach occurred in November, at which point Toyota was immediately notified and quickly addressed the vulnerability. This isn’t the automaker’s first tango with security researchers, as around the same time a different hacker group accessed confidential information through a large authentication gap at Sirius XM radio.

The Engine Block is your one-stop source for any and all auto industry news. Keep an eye on our weekly round-up of enthusiast coverage, product reviews, vehicle spotlights, auto show/expo features, and more. Be sure to check back this week for the next installment in our Resourceful Traveler series.