The "the big game" ads are a tease, on an extremely grand level.
Catching a quick glimpse of several angles of the car (and a full frontal) is what that ad time is about. Toss in a popular public figure, esp. one with first-hand knowledge of the product or region, and you've got a good ad that will connect with many.
Some companies are blatant and don't have to tease (see Bud Light, Pepsi).
When debuting an entirely new product, you have to get people inquisitive. Perfect place is 60 or 120 seconds during "the big game".
Anyone else remember the HUGE Neon campaign?
They sold how many of those skittles?
Just checking.
EDIT:
I thought about the Iacocca ad and watched it again. That was a great sell. He, and the company, did a great job with that.
But times have changed. The minivan is no longer 'new'. The Lebaron GTS is now the Charger SRT-8.
Where Chrysler gets lucky is that they have Ralph. The guy knows cars: designing them, selling them, building them, and also driving (the psss out of
) them. Fortunately, he doesn't look like a stuffed suit (anyone ever seen him with a tie on?) or your cookie-cutter CEO. He can pull off impromptu speeches, make you laugh, drive faster than me, and the ladies seem to like him. He could easily do an ad like Lee did. Less as a spoof, and more as an update. It'd be sort of the same story: one foot in the grave- Chapter Two.
Hell, have Lee introduce Ralph. He golfed with Snoop, right? A walk-thru of a faux (or a real) factory would be a piece of cake.