2012 Kia Super Bowl Ad Features Supermodel Adriana Lima - No Hamsters

Just the Facts:

• Kia appears poised to up the sex appeal quotient with its 2012 Super Bowl ad, which stars supermodel Adriana Lima.
• The ad, entitled "Drive the Dream," focuses on the 2012 Kia Optima Limited and also features Motley Crue and mixed martial arts fighter Chuck Liddell.
• Kia apparently has mothballed the hip-hop "Hamstars" and the sock monkey for its 2012 Super Bowl advertising push.

IRVINE, California — Kia appears poised to up the sex appeal quotient with its 2012 Super Bowl ad, which stars supermodel Adriana Lima, after relying on hamsters and sock monkeys for its most recent Super Bowl efforts.

The Korean automaker teased the commercial on Wednesday in a brief video that shows Lima waving a checkered flag to a recording of Mr. Sandman. The ad, entitled "Drive the Dream," focuses on the 2012 Kia Optima Limited and also features Motley Crue and mixed martial arts fighter Chuck Liddell.

"Kia Motors America is tapping into the idea of dreams revealing true desires in a new 60-second commercial set to air during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLVI," said Kia in a statement.

It said it will premiere the ad on February 2 on 18,000 movie screens nationwide. A "special expanded version" of the (Lima) ad will be available on YouTube.com/Kia starting February 2. According to a statement describing the ad by Kia, Lima does not actually drive the 2012 Kia Optima Limited, but looks on "adoringly" at the man behind the wheel.

Kia apparently has mothballed the hip-hop "Hamstars" and the sock monkey used in previous Super Bowl advertising.

Inside Line says: Sock monkey v. supermodel. You be the judge.