Toyota has signed snowboarding phenom Chloe Kim to a multiyear endorsement deal that includes the '18 PyeongChang Games, a foreshadowing of the automaker's upcoming worldwide Olympics sponsorship. The 16-year-old Kim will make appearances as a brand ambassador and appear in advertising for the Toyota Rav4 and Prius models, along with sporting the Toyota logo on her helmet and board. Neither financial terms nor the precise duration was disclosed, but the automaker gave Kim a new Toyota Rav4. Kim is among NBC’s top 10 athletes to watch for PyeongChang. Toyota gains global Olympic marketing rights in January under a deal signed last year with the IOC. It will replace BMW in the U.S. market at that time. Kim joins snowboarders such as Amy Purdy, Elena Hight and Travis Rice on Team Toyota. "Forging a relationship with one of the world's top-ranked snowboarders will allow Toyota to continue to celebrate sport, and the women who compete in them," said Toyota Motor Sales USA Group VP/Marketing Jack Hollis. Kim, a first generation child of South Korean immigrants, is the only X Games athlete to ever win two Gold Medals before her 16th birthday. She is expected to be a force in action sports and the Olympics for years to come. Kim’s agent, CAA Sports' Lowell Taub, negotiated the deal. He said, "With Toyota being an avid supporter of action sports athletes and events, and Chloe just turning 16 and getting her driver’s license, the timing could not have been better for this partnership.”
