Renowned tennis player Rafael Nadal and the X-Men have probably not been mentioned in the same story in the history of journalism, but that's what Kia chose to combine for its promo video. The Korean automaker is sponsoring the 2015 Australian Open and decided to use its Sorento SUV as a basis for an X-Men inspired fighting machine that stops the Sentinel robots from destroying the venue.
Both Kia and Hyundai have tried to create strong links to the world of comicbooks, usually though the SEMA show. A whole host of cool rides inspired by Superman, Cyborg or Batman have been paraded in Las Vegas over the years. But as far as we can tell, this is the first time they've tried hooking up with Professor Xavier and his band of merry mutants.
Wolverine is of course the most famous of the X-Men, so his Adamantium claws were the basis for the Sorento's makeover. Satin black paint, red accents and liberal use of the X-Men's logo take care of the rest.
What's really interesting is that Kia Motors teamed up with Twentieth Century Fox and actually put the X-Car, as it's called, together. The vehicle is soon going to be displayed at Melbourne Park in Australia throughout the Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open, which takes place from January 19th to February 1st, 2015.
Will that help Kia sell more cars? Probably not, but the video below has 4 million views on Youtube, so perhaps they're on to something here. Watch the clip and look out for signs Nadal turning into an orange-skinned mutant.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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