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Seventeen days after the Super Bowl and we're still talking about the commercials. Crazy, we know, but that's how significant these ads are, and why the $3.5 million price tag for airtime during the game seems almost justified... almost.

Yesterday we reported that YouTube had crowned Chrysler's "Halftime in America" as the most watched car commercial from the Super Bowl (an M&M's ad nabbed the #1 most viewed overall spot). But YouTube views don't mean much to automakers that are trying to sell cars. They want to know if their multi-million dollar Super Bowl ad directly increased interest in the vehicles they're selling.

To answer that question we have this infographic from car-shopping website CarWoo!. While we wouldn't blame you for guessing that Chrysler and Clint Eastwood drummed up the most car-shopper interest, you'd be wrong. According to the numbers crunched by CarWoo!, Chevrolet received the highest lift in consideration after the big game at 61 percent. Chrysler was second with a 26-percent lift and Toyota third at 25 percent. Brands with big ads like Acura, Volkswagen and Honda, however, saw no lift in interest after the Super Bowl.

Chevrolet's performance here can be partially attributed to the volume of ads it ran before, during and after the Super Bowl. It was by far the most prolific auto advertiser. But not all of its ads were winners. While commercials for the Sonic, Camaro and Silverado contributed positive lift, the ad for the Volt did nothing to help raise the bottom line of consumer interest.

Also interesting to note is the back-of-the-pack performance of Cadillac, which, despite boasting that its ad for the ATS was the most watched advertisement of all time, only saw a six-percent lift in interest.

Follow the jump for the full infographic from CarWoo!.

Every year in November, the Specialty Equipment Market Association hosts a trade show out in the desert. You know it as the SEMA Show in Las Vegas.

Held in the sprawling square footage of the Las Vegas Convention Center, the SEMA Show is where just about every automotive aftermarket company and supplier comes to share its wares. About 1,500 new products debut there each year, and even automakers brave the crowds to show off their most wild and custom concept and performance vehicles.

Despite being a trade-only event and technically not open to the public, we've included it on The List because so many enthusiasts have told us they want to attend and, based on our experience, many of them find a way in. We got Jessi and Patrick passes for this past year's SEMA Show to experience the chaos, and they filed this report.

Follow the jump to watch them check off "Attend SEMA" from The List.

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We checked driving a tank off our list of 1,001 Car Things To Do Before You Die in The List #0433 – or at least our hosts, Jessi and Patrick, did. They performed this feat at the aptly named Drive A Tank company in Kasota, Minnesota.

Drive A Tank offers a number of packages that include not only piloting up to three tanks in a day, but also history lessons on the usage of tanks in battle, a tour of their facilities and the chance to fire some historic military firearms. As Jessie herself experienced, there's even a Car Crush package that lets you drive a Chieftain Main Battle Tank over an auto that's past its prime.

But crushing a car may not be enough for you, which is why Drive A Tank just added mobile home crushing to its list of options. According to co-owner Tory Borglum, crushing cars has been a big hit with customers, but once the crush bug had bitten them, people wanted more. And so, Tony and company began intercepting mobile homes headed to the junkyard for one more fling on their tank course.

The Mobile Home Crush package starts at $500 and goes up to $3,495. Drive a Tank has also expanded its fleet of available military vehicles to drive with some non-treaded transports. New to the company this year are two M35 2½-ton cargo trucks and a GMV-spec military Humvee.

This past December we reported that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had found traffic fatalities in 2010 were at their lowest level since 1949. Unfortunately, another study released yesterday by the Governors Highway Safety Association reveals that the number of 16- and 17-year-old driver deaths is headed in the opposite direction.

While NHTSA has yet to release overall numbers for motor vehicle deaths in 2011, projections for the first six months have overall fatalities declining 0.9 percent. The number of teen driver deaths during that time, however, increased 11 percent from 190 the year before to 211, according to the report. The study is based on preliminary data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia that counts the number of drivers in this age group who died behind the wheel during the first six months of 2011. The states with the highest increase in teen driver deaths during that time were Florida, Texas and North Carolina.

While data for the last half of 2011 wasn't included in the report, if the trend continued through New Year's, it would mark the end of eight straight years of decline fatalities for this age group. As for why it's happening, the researchers behind the study specifically cite the benefits of Graduate Driver Licensing laws, which have been around in many states since the '90s, finally leveling off.

There are a few car photographers out there that we count among our favorites. Our own Drew Phillips is at the top of the list for obvious reasons (have you seen his recent ZR1 shots?), but close behind is Jordan Shiraki. We've shown you his work before, including a very special photoshoot where the Lamborghini Murcielago came face to face with the supercar that's replacing it.

Jordan mainly shoots Lambos, rare ones at that, and he shoots them well. Recently, however, he decided to do something extra special for a shoot with an ultra rare Lamborghini Superleggera LP570-4 Blancpain Edition. Only 12 of these special edition Gallardos were made; this one is #11. So to set this shoot apart, Jordan decided to try his hand at producing video, and the result is after the jump.

The three and a half minute video is every bit as beautiful as his still photography, if not more so. We suggest setting the YouTube player to 720p and turning up the sound. Oh, and he didn't forget to pull out his DSLR during the shoot either, so check out the gallery below.

We hate to break it to you, but the world is chock full of unscrupulous people, folk who don't care one bit about screwing you to get ahead. Thankfully, unscrupulousness can be kept in check by vigilantly recording everything that happens to you. We know, the prospect sounds daunting, but a good dash cam will at least keep you covered while driving.

While most of the time your dash cam will record nothing but the drudgeries of daily driving, if you're like this guy, you'll be glad you had it on when something fishy goes down. The setting is a traffic-clogged freeway somewhere, and the characters are played by our dash cam owner and one of those unscrupulous people we were talking about earlier.

Follow the jump to see why it's always good to have a dash cam rolling.

General Motors today reported its earnings for last year and the fourth fiscal quarter of 2011. The automaker's profits for 2011 totaled $7.6 billion, up from $4.7 billion in 2010.

While the news was excellent for the full year, fourth quarter net income was only $472 million, or about the same as Q4 2010. While that makes eight straight quarters of positive numbers since the company emerged from bankruptcy in 2009, the earnings were weighed down by losses of $562 million in Europe from GM's Opel subsidiary.

There were also a number of one-time events that affected earnings in the fourth quarter, without which GM's profit would've nearly doubled to $900 million.

Still, the company counts 2011 as a successful year, and the stats tend to agree. TrueCar.com reports that GM increased its sales by over 13 percent, increased market share by half a point, grew average transaction prices by over $1,100 and lowered incentive spending by five percent. Based on that performance, all 47,500 hourly employees will receive profit sharing checks of up to $7,000. Check out The General's official press release after the jump.

Lexus is doing whatever it can to convince people that its new GS is not like the anesthetized machinery it's been known for in the past. Part one of that plan was a Super Bowl commercial – a first for Lexus. Part two is throwing some sex into the mix.

Lexus has earned (or more likely paid for) the right to call itself the Official Automotive Marketing Partner of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit property. With that title comes access to an SI swimsuit model, one very statuesque Tori Praver, and the Lexus creative team has found a clever way to capitalize on her curves.

Their idea was to create a race track based on the contour of Tori's swimsuit-clad body, and then pit two experienced drivers against each other to see who could drift around her thighs the quickest in a 2013 Lexus GS F Sport. According to the video after the jump, making the track wasn't all that difficult, and professional race car driver Scott Pruett and stunt car driver Greg Tracy were tasked with tracing Tori's curves.

Find out which driver won what Lexus is calling the TORI 500, then and got a victory lap with Tori, after the jump. The marketing campaign also includes a pair of iPhone apps, one out now that lets you place images of Tori and the Lexus GS in any of your iPhone's photos, and another coming soon that's an actual racing game based on the TORI 500 track.

We've gotten word from our man on location driving the new 2012 Hyundai Azera that the Korean automaker's fully redesigned full-size front-wheel-drive sedan will start at $32,000, not including $875 in destination charges, when it goes on sale this spring. The only option available will be a $4,000 Tech package. We're not certain yet what all will be included in the Tech package since items like touch-screen navigation and a back-up camera will be standard equipment on the 2012 Azera, but we're looking into it.

Hyundai is asking an awful lot more for its new Azera compared to the one it replaces, which carried a base MSRP of just $25,495. We'll have our First Drive report on the 2012 Hyundai Azera ready soon to let you know if the price jump is justified.

We likewise have pricing information to report for the refreshed 2013 Hyundai Genesis Coupe, which will start at $24,250, again not including $875 in destination charges. That's for the four-cylinder 2.0t model with a manual transmission, while the upper bound on pricing is represented by the 3.8-liter V6-powered Track model with the new eight-speed automatic transmission that costs $34,250.

Lastly, while rumors had resurfaced again that Hyundai was considering creating a luxury sub-brand called Genesis that would sell both the sedan and coupe along with the larger Equus, Hyundai Motor America CEO John Krafcik has told Autoblog, "There is no plan to create Genesis sub brand." He did, however, indicate that the next-generation Genesis sedan should have all-wheel drive as an option.

A video surfaced on YouTube last week that purported to show a Bugatti Veyron being driven at near top speed on public roads. Mind you, "near top speed" for a Veyron still means well above 200 miles per hour. The YouTube account owner who uploaded the video claims that the car made seven runs and reached speeds in the range of 215-225 mph. That's well short of 253 mph, the Bug's terminal velocity in Top Speed mode, but the Veyron was reportedly left in Handling Mode to accommodate the public road's uneven surface.

The video has attracted over 1,200,000 views after just one week on YouTube, and at least one of those views was the authorities in Arizona. Despite text in the video claiming that the high speed runs were shot "south of the border," police in Arizona were still none too thrilled with what Arizona Department of Public Spokesman Bart Graves called "a criminal act." The act in question is said to have occurred in late 2009, and since the driver's identity is never fully revealed, there's not much the authorities are likely going to do about it now. There's also no know way to know for certain where the video was shot, though Arizona police say the driver would be thrown in jail if he were caught trying to repeat the act in their jurisdiction.

The ironic thing is that the police did apparently have an opportunity to bust the driver, though they didn't know it at the time. The end of the video shows the Veyron pulled over on the side of the road by the Arizona Highway Patrol, but the video's description claims the driver wasn't cited because he was only going 80 mph at the time and the "officer stopped the car to take a look at it."

Follow the jump to get a look at the Bugatti going all out on public roads for yourself.

The Lightning GT all-electric supercar has been inching its way towards production for years now. The last time we talked about itwas November 2010, but it's back thanks to Translogic.

The video series from our colleagues at AOL Autos took a trip to Europe and managed to score the very first drive of the Lightning GT before anyone else. Not even Top Gear has sat in this thing and it's being developed in their backyard.

The specs for the car as they stand today are 400 horsepower from its electric motor powering the rear wheels for a 0-60 time of around 4.5 seconds and a maximum range of 150 miles. The folks behind the Lightning GT even claim that their lithium-titanate batteries (sourced from the U.S.) can be recharged in just 10 minutes when paired with a big daddy ultra powerful off-board charger.

Bold claims for sure, and we'd likely describe the Lightning GT as vaporware if Translogic didn't just drive it. Drive it they did, though, so follow the jump to watch Translogic host Bradley Hasemeyer be the first to put foot to floor in the Lightning GT.

While Chrysler got the most attention for its Super Bowl ad starring Clint Eastwood, many found Kia's spot starring Mr. Sandman, Adriana Lima and Motley Crue to be the most entertaining. The car featured in the ad was the new Optima SX Limited, which made its debut today at the 2012 Chicago Auto Show.

The SX Limited is the new range-topping trim for the Optima, slotting neatly above the SX. What it adds to the already loaded SX are LED daytime running lights, chrome accenting on the rear spoiler and lower door sills, red painted front brake calipers, a unique set of chrome 18-inch wheels, high-dollar Napa leather, wood interior trim and three exterior colors options: Ebony Black, Snow White Pearl or Titanium Metallic.

While no pricing for the SX Limited was given, we obviously expect it to start somewhere north of the SX trim's $26,500 base price. Production begins later this month at Kia's assembly plant in West Point, Georgia.

It's not like we needed any more reason to like the Soul, but Kia went ahead and debuted the Track'ster concept at the 2012 Chicago Auto Show anyway. The Track'ster is a three-door, all-wheel-drive, 250-hp version of the cute and quirky urban Soul that we hope gets green lights all along its road to production. That's wishful thinking, but follow along to find out why we want the Track'ster made so badly.

The Track'ster eschews a back seat in favor of a "fully integrated equipment tray and spare-tire well."

To date, the Soul has been anything but a performance machine. The Track'ster changes that in a big way by eschewing not only a pair of doors, but also the back seat in favor of what Kia describes as a "fully integrated equipment tray and spare-tire well." This tray is designed to house helmets, race suits, gloves, tools and all the accoutrement that goes with being a serious track rat.

The idea for the Track'ster is to run what your brung, so while the car itself carries everything you need to race, it also needs to move with enough hustle that you're not embarrassed behind the wheel. To that end, Kia has fitted the concept with a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder producing 250 horsepower that gets dissected by a six-speed short throw manual transmission and further divided among all four 19-inch wheels by an all-wheel-drive system.

Despite the lack of rear doors, the Track'ster sports a wheelbase nearly an inch longer than the Soul and a 75.5-inch rear track that stretches nearly five inches wider. Likewise, its braking system is also extra strength with 14-inch Brembos clamped by six-piston calipers up front and 13.6-inch discs with four-piston calipers in back. Of course, the interior has also been done up for concept duty, but not so much that it's outside the realm of possibility.

The Track'ster is one of those concepts that occupies a space just near enough reality that we believe it, or something like it, could be be produced if the proletariat buying regular old Souls screams loudly enough. Let us just say, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

When spending big dollars on a Super Bowl ad buy, companies would do themselves well to remember that the successful spots aren't just the ones being talked about the next day. The ads that more eyeballs actually saw while watching the game were also worth their weight in focus groups.

For the second year in a row, General Motors is claiming that it aired the most watched ad during the most watched event in U.S. TV history. We are speaking of the 30-second spot entitled "Green Hell" featuring the Cadillac ATS that aired during the game's most tense moments, right after the official two-minute warning was reached. The time was 9:37 PM EST and, according to analysis by Kantar Media, more people were watching NBC's broadcast at that time than any other.

And since this year's Super Bowl was again viewed by another record audience – 111.3 million viewers in the U.S., not to mention over a billion worldwide – the ATS ad therefore becomes the most watched advertisement on television in U.S. history.

We said this is the second time that GM has claimed this crown. The first was with last year's Camaro commercial called "Miss Evelyn." To see the two most watched spots in U.S. television history back-to-back, just follow the jump.