While a car featuring Apple-compatible features is nothing new, the Volkswagen iBeetle takes that integration to an entirely new level, working with your iPhone to allow both the car and the device to do things never before possible.

Because if there’s one thing drivers need, it’s more tech-related distractions!

Thanks to a docking station, drivers will be able to use their iPhone for navigation, hands-free calling, and listening to their favorite iTunes playlist. Also, a special Volkswagen app available through the App Store will include extra dashboard extensions and access to Spotify, social networks like Facebook, and the iPhone’s camera (so you can take a picture of the cliff you’re about to drive off while updating your Facebook status and rocking out to Justin Bieber).

The car even looks like an Apple product with its silvery color, sleek design, and chrome trim, so Mac enthusiasts who have always wanted to crawl inside their McBooks and live there will be able to make that dream a reality in the near future. The iBeetle will be abailable in two different models sometime in early 2014, and if you just can’t wait that long, you can pre-order the car in October 2013.

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The ad shows a man attempting to end his life with carbon monoxide poisoning by breathing the exhaust of a new Hyundai. The joke’s on him, though; the car’s emissions are so clean, he lives to see another day.

Yeah. We’re not laughing, either.

In fact, because some of us have immediate family members who have suffered with depression and have attempted suicide, we just can’t muster our usual “lighten up” attitude for this one — it’s just plain offensive (and potentially harmful). There is ample data showing that careless depictions of suicide can actually cause more suicides to occur. And this ad not only depicts a pretty detailed blue-print for how to kill yourself, but it also neglects to show any evidence of the impact that this man’s actions would have on others, or suggest that there is any kind of help available to him.

A spokesman for Hyundai told Forbes via email that the video was created in Europe by a European agency (Innocean Europe), and said that Hyundai Motor North America was not involved in any way in its production or posting. He also passed on the following statement from Hyundai Europe:

“We understand that some people may have found the iX35 video offensive.  We are very sorry if we have offended anyone.  We have taken the video down and have no intention of using it in any of our advertising or marketing.”

Hyundai North America has since publicly issued the following statement:

We at Hyundai Motor America are shocked and saddened by the depiction of a suicide attempt in an inappropriate UK video featuring a Hyundai. Suicide merits thoughtful discussion, not this type of treatment.

While we do feel that this apology and the decision to pull the ad were appropriate damage-control responses, we are a little surprised the ad made it that far in the first place without someone somewhere along the line saying, “gee, guys, it’s clever and all, but this goes quite a bit too far”. Mental illness is still a fairly taboo subject in many respects, and those suffering from it often feel too ashamed to talk openly about what they are going through or to seek help. We don’t see ads making light of other life-threatening disabilities, so why is depression any different?

On principle, we weren’t honestly sure we even wanted to include the video in this post, but realized readers would likely want to see what we’re talking about. The ad is below the jump, but we personally found it disturbing enough to suggest you use discretion before viewing.

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Because the public groups Japanese cars and most other Japanese products under the same national umbrella, these brands must work extra hard to differentiate themselves from each other. They even suffer through the same PR fails! For example, the latest auto recall scandal involves Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Mazda and 3.4 million vehicles whose passenger side airbags could “deploy with too much force, sending shards of metal into the passenger area”. OK then!

This revelation presents a litany of PR challenges, the most notable being the public’s collective question, “If these brands all use the same airbags and airbag technology, what actually makes them different?”

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The strangest thing about this story is probably the fact that the spot, created by Ford’s Indian ad agency WPP, was never meant to be seen by the (Indian) public.

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That’s exactly what Hot Wheels and Chevrolet Canada teamed up with Canadian agency TrojanOne to create: a vending machine that accepts tweets rather than coins and dispenses limited-edition diecast toy car collectables rather than chips and soda. The companies built the customized vending machine (which was just a regular coil vending machine updated with special web-enabled computer components) in honor of the Toronto Auto Show. All toy car enthusiasts had to do was stand near the machine, enable location features on their smartphones and tweet at @HotWheelsCanada using the hashtag #ChevyCIAS. Ta da! A free toy car.

The machine dispensed about 2,000 of them over the 10 days of the auto show. Impressive, no?

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But when Rolls Royce announces a recall, we drop whatever we’re holding, gasp and ask ourselves “How in the world could this happen?”

It’s true. Due to a potential fire hazard, Rolls Royce is recalling 27 of its 2013 phantom vehicles, each of which cost between $399,000 and $470,000. For a revered luxury brand like Rolls Royce, this hurts. This really hurts.

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We are shocked to learn that Musk did not take our advice, instead releasing another lengthy statement in which he critiqued nearly every element of Broder’s highly detailed follow-up to his initial post.

We won’t get into the technical specifics as others have covered them extensively, but here’s a good example of the nature of this tit-for-tat showdown: Musk accuses Broder of driving in circles in order to intentionally run down the car’s battery; Broder says that he was simply trying to locate one of the company’s poorly-lit Supercharger stations. He said, she said.

Again, we understand Musk’s desire to protect his baby.

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But can he fight back against what CNBC calls “Tesla’s PR #EpicFail“? His auto company’s latest electric car, the Model S, won Motor Trend‘s car of the year award among a wave of very positive reviews, but The New York Times auto critic John M. Broder‘s test drive didn’t go so well.

Despite being a “technical wonder”, the car ran out of juice in cold weather when its battery died and the writer, having no access to one of the company’s remote “Supercharger” stations, had to call a towing company. The Tesla brand’s stock took a hit, inspiring Musk to lash out on Twitter. The funniest part of this four-wheel drama? Not only did Musk pitch the story to the Times in the first place, he apparently called the critic to apologize for the experience and offer him a second test drive before calling him a liar in public.

NYTimes article about Tesla range in cold is fake. Vehicle logs tell true story that he didn’t actually charge to max & took a long detour.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 11, 2013

This is a strange damage control strategy, no?

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The one-of-a-kind design features 19 engines, 42 wheels, three steering wheels (to be controlled by three different drivers simultaneously) and, of course, a large trunk dedicated solely to transporting toys.

So how did this epically equipped piece of machinery make it from the brain of a toddler to a detailed BMW design? Like so many other magical things in childhood, all it took was a kid’s limitless imagination–and a particularly cool, dedicated adult invested in encouraging that creativity–to get things moving. It all started when Eli’s uncle posted on car enthusiast website Jalopnik:

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When Mercedes-Benz hired experimental bra tester Kate Upton for its Super Bowl spot and leaked a trailer that promised to show her washing the new CLA four-door coup “in slow motion”, we feel like they somehow knew that the Parents Television Council would see it, issue a statement and encourage members of the public to voice their outrage.

Could the Mercedes team be so deliciously crafty? Well, the clip already has more than three million views on YouTube. (You don’t really even need to watch it, by the way. You get the point.)

And now for the incredibly predictable backlash:
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Chevrolet

The 2014 model pays homage to its ancestors by reviving the retro Stingray name, but chief engineer Tadge Juechter made clear that this is a car for the 21st century: “We don’t want to do retro…we don’t want to go back and do like some manufacturers [and] go relive the glory days.”

While the Corvette, which celebrates its 60th birthday this year, is not nearly Chevy’s best-selling car (the company barely sold 12,000 last year), the iconic (if impractical) muscle car is an integral part of the company’s branding.

Brian Moody of AutoTrader says, “It’s almost like a rolling billboard for the company, for the attitude of the company [and] the spirit of the company”. He went on to say that the purpose of building a high-performance sports car like the Corvette isn’t actually to sell a lot of Corvettes, but to sell more Impalas and Malibus.

That’s not to say, however, that Chevy isn’t invested in expanding the Corvette-buying market.

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And yet, 2012 sales numbers tell us that Toyota has already recovered from a wide-reaching scandal that started in 2009 with reports of “technical difficulties” in its vehicles and ended with the recall of more than seven million individual automobiles. In fact, the Japanese company ended the year by reclaiming its place as the world’s most successful car maker.

Toyota obviously wanted to get people talking in 2013, so it came out swinging with a re-branding initiative fronted by a hot pink “executive” sedan. Japanese CEOs and their teenage daughters now have one more thing in common…a favorite color! Did someone invite Hello Kitty reps to participate in creative strategy meetings?

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Considering that Zipcar has about 767,000 drivers, the brand couldn’t remain idle and simply allow the imaginations of its members to run rampant. The public craves information—particularly in the wake of a major development like this—and if companies fail to implement an effective follow-up PR campaign, then they risk having public opinion create the narrative, which isn’t always desirable.

Take, for example, these comments on a New York Times article announcing the merger:

Patricia from New York:
Ugh. Another soul-sucking merger. Watch the quality of service disappear after this corporate meal is finished. Burp

Lynn in DC:
I like Zipcar and am apprehensive that the changes to be brought about by Avis will not be good for consumers. Oh well, guess I may have to actually buy a car at some point now.

A Reader, from Detroit, MI:
What a shame. One of the things I really liked about Zipcar was that it was not Avis or Hertz.

This is exactly why brands and companies must develop a well-articulated PR strategy and put it in place before the public has a chance to react. Brands can’t expect consumers to express informed opinions without first providing them with the information they need.

In general the public hates mergers. As capitalists, we all like to think that our purchases are positive reflections of us and our values, particularly when it comes to supporting innovative, creative and lesser-known brands.

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As the public emerges from a crippling recession and attempts to shake off what has been a tough decade for most Americans, even those with jobs have tired of commuting to and from work in the same cars they drove 10 years ago. Just take a look at our highways–they’re filled with vehicles just as weary and worn out as the American public.

Thankfully, that may be changing–Mercedes-Benz is banking on the fact that the public believes the worst to be behind us. The upscale auto brand plans to connect with a new generation of customers by advertising its more affordable CLA to 30 -and 40-somethings during Super Bowl XLVII.

Only brands with something to prove even entertain the thought of advertising during the Super Bowl–and most of the 100-million plus Americans watching the game will even be in the market for a new high-end car–but Mercedes-Benz clearly believes its gamble will pay off.

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Turns out that Tesla, at least, has the last laugh: the company’s Model S all-electric sedan just won Motor Trend‘s Car of the Year award by unanimous 12-0 vote. The Model S is the first electric car to win in the 64-year history of the award, and its victory signals an industry-wide shift toward hybrid and electric models–if not on the road, then definitely in the design studio.

Lest we think Motor Trend simply followed the flock in making this decision, editor in chief Ed Loh stated that the magazine’s editorial board didn’t choose the Model S simply because it lacks a combustion engine; it also happens to the be the fastest and one of the quietest, best-handling American sedans on the market.

And about that Mitt Romney “loser” quote: No one at Tesla commented on the matter before the election, but designer Elon Musk, the mind behind the Model S, managed to get a final dig in after his Motor Trend victory, stating:

“In retrospect he was right about the object of that statement, but not the subject.”

Mee-oww.

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