New York International Auto Week begins today with an estimated attendance of over 1M. 25 manufacturers are expected to make appearances during the week across five different car categories- convertibles, coupes, crossovers, electric, and fuel cell. Toyota has the most total deals of all brands attending, followed by Ford Motor Company, Nissan, and Hyundai Motor.

Toyota’s partnership portfolio spans across +120 different property types, including all five Major Pro Sports leagues. Additionally, Toyota also holds Venue Naming Rights for eight different properties like the Houston Rockets (Toyota Center) and FC Dallas (Toyota Stadium) just to name a few. Even with the most partnerships of any auto manufacturer, Toyota continues to trend upwards, partnering with +34% more properties since 2020.

Keep an eye out for Toyota in both the New York International Auto Show and the partnership scene.

The 2021 MLS Cup Champions, the New York City Football Club, signed a partnership deal with FLO, an electric vehicle charging network and provider. While they have a deal with the NHL (Vancouver Canucks), this partnership marks the first U.S. Major Pro Sports deal for the brand.

FLO will be the Official Electric Vehicle Charging Partner of NYCFC. Their deal with the Canucks includes virtual signage on the broadcast as well as dasher board signage. SponsorUnited highlighted the EV brands that entered the sponsorship world in 2021 in our Automotive Sponsorships 2020-2021 Annual Report. As mentioned in the report, there were seven brands at the time making an impact in the EV space leading the way for more brands to enter into new partnerships.

Rivian teamed up with Professional Fishing Athlete, Camille Egdorf for the release of their first teaser video while well known brand Tesla, jumped into the NIL space securing a deal with USC defensive lineman Nick Figuerora. Lucid Motors made a big splash in 2021 spending on broadcast media with commercials during Super Bowl LV as well as the Rose Bowl and on Saturday Night Live on NBC.

Day 2 of CES 2022 saw cars that fly, yes, flying cars, produced by Kyocera SLD Laser while also showcasing their new world record for “LiFi Communications."

Continuing our drive through CES, Stellantis, who has a recent partnership with Amazon, showcased their new cars which include the Amazon Web Services software as the cloud provider for the vehicles. These cars are expected to launch in 2024. Stellantis also has partnerships with BMW, Foxconn & Waymo with the end goal of reaching 34 million connected cars on the road by 2030.

Volvo will be releasing a new self driving car named the "Ride Pilot". Although no date of release has been announced yet, the car will be debuted in California. Volvo, an international auto brand, has over 30 sponsorships across the globe including Serie A team, Inter Milan, and the NHL Boston Bruins.

Fisker Inc. headquartered in California showcased their Fisker Ocean electric SUV that includes the first ever Digital-Imaging Radar system within a car. Production is set to begin in November 2022. Fisker Inc. currently has out of home signage in California within the San Francisco and Los Angeles Markets.

DOWNLOAD REPORT: https://sponsorunited.com/auto-report/

SponsorUnited, the leading partnership data platform for sports & entertainment, released its Automotive Sponsorships 2020-21 Annual Report.

Key Highlights of The Report Include:

• Automotive industry sponsorship spending in Major Pro Sports hits $225.7M, down from $258.7M in 2019-2020.

• For the 4^th straight year, Toyota has the most sponsorship deals by an automotive brand globally.

• Interest in partnering with automotive dealerships is at an all-time high, becoming the 7^th most searched category by sponsorship sales executives in 2021 (up from 54^th in 2020).

• Three of the top six most successful influencers to promote an automotive brand via social media were female, led by Alicia Keys.

• Non-traditional is the new normal. A Pet Influencer had more sponsored posts with an automotive brand than Rafael Nadal, LeBron James and Novak Djokovic combined.