You know that plethora of new, hilarious Ron Burgundy ads for the 2014 Dodge Durango? The ones that helped propel Durango sales up 59 percent in October?
Well, Dodge's new pitchman , comedian Will Ferrell -- in character as the oafish San Diego newscaster Ron Burgundy -- went decidedly off-message during an appearance Wednesday on Conan O'Brien's late night show.
"It's a terrible car," Ferrell told the host during an interview segment. "They gave me one for free, and I drove it four feet and the thing cracked in half."
Ferrell's red-haired interrogator intervened, chiding that consumers had "bought this car because of you," and the ads for the Durango that began airing in September.
"Well, I got paid. They're suckers. I'm just the messenger. I'm not in there tinkering around with lug nuts," Ferrell's character said.
Of course, later in the same interview, Burgundy goes on to endorse and sing a campaign song for Toronto's embattled, self-confessed drug-using mayor, Rob Ford. So there's that.
A spokeswoman for Chrysler said today that the interview with Conan O'Brien was in character, and that "working with Ron Burgundy is everything that we expected and more."
Dodge has released more Burgundy videos on its Web site, www.BurgundyDodge.com.
