TORRANCE, Calif. -

Lexus has joined the fray of automotive companies advertising in what’s arguably the sports world’s biggest event, announcing Tuesday that it will roll out a Super Bowl commercial for the first time ever this year.

The plan is for the luxury brand to showcase its 30-second spot during the first half of the game. Super Bowl XLVI is on Feb. 5 and will air on NBC. Lexus is providing a 15-second preview of the ad on its social media channels.

“This is a big year for Lexus as we introduce nine new or updated models, and the Super Bowl provides us with an equally big opportunity to reach a highly engaged audience of 50 million people,” stated Lexus vice president of marketing Brian Smith.

“The star of our commercial is the all-new 2013 GS which launches in February and kicks off a pivotal era for the Lexus brand. The spot also will convey that even more products are waiting in the wings and are anxious to hit the road,” Smith added.

Additionally, in anticipation of its first-ever Super Bowl spot, the automaker announced a football-themed social-media game.

“TweetDrive Engineered by Lexus” is a social-media game on NBCSports.com where contestants strive to gain yards and score a touchdown. Participants earn yards by answering various trivia and predictive gaming questions correctly on Twitter. In answering, they must use the following hash tag: #LexusTweetDrive.

Contestants have their name thrown into the drawing for the grand prize — a trip for two to an NBC Sports Premium Event — during each NFL playoff game that they play TweetDrive.

Fans can register at www.nbcsports.com. Contestants are urged to monitor (through Sunday) the automaker’s tweets during playoff games for predictive gaming questions and check out the company’s tweets during the week for trivia questions.

“TweetDrive Engineered by Lexus offers a unique way to challenge sports fans to put their knowledge about football and social media to the test," Smith shared.

“There is a lot of excitement about football this time of year and Lexus is pleased to join in the action through this program. It’s also a great way to build on the anticipation created by our upcoming Super Bowl ad, a first for Lexus,” he concluded.