GM hires Will Ferrell for Super Bowl ad promising to “crush” Norway in electric car fight

American auto giant General Motors – which in 2020 used the Super Bowl to unveil its all-electric Hummer EV –  is taking a very different tack this year in what is the country’s biggest annual sporting event.

Hot on the heels of US president Biden’s bold plan to transition to the country’s entire government fleet to electric, the country’s largest automaker has now turned its attention to getting the American people on board the electric vehicle (EV) transition.

How? By choosing actor Will Ferrell to pick a fight with Norway, which has the largest number of electric vehicles by market share in the world. In late 2020 electric cars amounted to 75% of the Norwegian new car market, the culmination of three decades of policy aimed at accelerating adoption.

The rationale is that if GM is to become a market leader in the transition to clean transport, they must convince more Americans to join in the fight. And it’s not just Norway, but its US rival Tesla that it needs to compete with.

“For the GM brand, the whole mission right now is to really start the movement, really help change people’s opinions about what they think they know about EVs versus what they really are,” GM chief marketing officer Deborah Wahl told CNBC.

“Super Bowl requires something extra and something special. It’s a moment where you have an enormous amount of eyeballs.”

Ferrell hilariously hits the spot in the advertisement as he rakes in fellow comedians Kenan Thompson and Awkwafina to the anti-Norway EV cause, which GM posted on Youtube and you can see at the bottom of this article.

“Well I won’t stand for it,” says Ferrell as he punches a globe in the clip. “With GM’s new Ultium battery, we’re going to crush those lugers. Crush them! Let’s go America.”

The proprietary Ultium battery will power GM’s upcoming electric vehicle platform which it will use to underpin a whole new range of electric vehicles.

Just days after Biden’s announcement to transition the US government fleet, GM announced it would aspire to stop making cars with tailpipe emissions by 2035 as part of a plan to be completely carbon-neutral by 2040.

GM will also release another electric vehicle advertisement for the Super Bowl which will feature its upcoming Cadillac Lyriq crossover, CNBC reports.