Audi returns to the Super Bowl with Jason Statham and the A6
The Giants and the Patriots may be disappointed not to have made it back to the Super Bowl this year, but at least Audi will be back again. The German automaker aired a spot during last year's NFL championship game depicting the R8 supercar as a cameo in the original Godfather movie. During this year's game, however, Audi's commercial will feature action movie star Jason Statham behind the wheel of the A6.
Statham has carved out a niche for himself in Hollywood as the perennial getaway driver, and while he's driven all sorts of getaway vehicles in various films, the BMW he drove in the first Transporter movie was replaced by an Audi for the subsequent sequels. In the Super Bowl commercial, Statham will reportedly try getting away in a number of different luxury sedans before settling on a supercharged A6. We'll see if he manages to escape when the commercial airs on February 1, alongside Danica Patrick's spot for GoDaddy.com.
[Source: Automotive News – subs. req'd]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
TurboPanzer 2:35PM (1/22/2009)
"What are you afraid of, Tommy? zee Germans?"
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timgates2 3:39PM (1/22/2009)
Good one! Lol
Auari 2:38PM (1/22/2009)
I can't wait, to bad it's not the RS-6 either way I'm still exited
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zamafir 4:41PM (1/22/2009)
Me too. Going with a supercharged 3.0 powerplant was a damn smart idea.
BoxerFanatic 2:41PM (1/22/2009)
That sounds cool, as long as they leave the motor-oil-slick fighting alone. Once was different, twice was too much. :D
I still like the out-take from The Italian Job, where Seth Green was mocking Statham's british accent and playboy demeanor. THAT was funny.
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Daniel 2:42PM (1/22/2009)
Definitely one of my favorite action movie stars. I'll be looking forward to this one!
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AZZO45b 5:55PM (1/22/2009)
Agree, not a typical "pretty-boy" actor/ action star.
Enjoyed his work in the two Guy Richie movies (Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels & Snatch). The original Transporter & Crank were entertaining too. Transporter 2 got my $$$ because of Statham, but he also was the reason I blew off being pi$$ed at myself for not reading a few reviews!!!
Jason Statham does great voice-over work in the upcoming Audi/ NFL Films produced documentary( Truth in 24), on the 2008 LeMans 24 Hour race. This will air on ESPN on March 20, 2009 (night before Sebring 12 Hour)
cray 3:01PM (1/22/2009)
I'm sorry (well not really), but the first Transporter movie was way better than 2 or 3. But def. looking forward to seeing this ad.
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ack154 2:59PM (1/22/2009)
Transporter 3.5?
Sounds cool enough though. Can't wait!
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JDMlover 3:05PM (1/22/2009)
The audi before those (last gen)
IMO look better....these new model look too sharp and bloated.
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Cypher09 3:29PM (1/22/2009)
Great thinking Audi. You tuck tail and run away from the ALMS when some credible competition finally shows up claiming the poor Economy is preventing you from spending money and than you go and throw millions at Superbowl commercials.
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popcornten 10:16PM (1/22/2009)
Yeah, super bowl commercials so they can sell cars. They'll reach millions of people with a super bowl ad for however much they cost now ($2 million?).
ALMS is a huge investment and I don't think they'll see nearly the return in car sales by running their cars there (especially since they don't have any TDI cars here, their diesel race cars were a huge success but they don't back it up and offer diesels here...yet)
BluePariah 5:15PM (1/22/2009)
Apples and Oranges.
This will come out of Audi of America's marketing budget, which is much, much different than whatever finances Audi AG has set aside for racing. Global companies don't just have random pools of money lying around for everyone to draw from. Everything is budgeted and planned well in advance. In fact, they probably had this lined up directly after the last Super Bowl.
Audi is trying to establish itself as a household name associated with luxury, without being ostentatious, while trying to drastically to increase its US sales. The Super Bowl is a good way to do this and, if successful, will show a lot more ROI then what is, ultimately, useless spending on racing.
And as Audi of America's sales number's clearly show, they know what they're doing.
Cypher09 5:39PM (1/22/2009)
@BluePariah: You make a lot of unfounded assumptions. "useless spending on racing." Like winning Le Mans on fuel mileage with their TDI technology and having their Quatro system banned in BTCC for an unfair advantage was a terrible waste of money? Apparently they didn't think so when they were whoring those achievements up in subsequent advertising campaigns.
I take it you think their upcoming documentary Truth in 24 is just pissing Euros into the wind? Apparently their top brass don't think so since they funded the thing.
Bottom line is Audi beat up on a bunch of privateers in ALMS for years and as soon as some real factory backed competition shows up they bolt for the door.
AZZO45b 5:58PM (1/22/2009)
Marketing $$$ does not rob from the Motorsports $$$/ budget. Audi is still running @ LeMans & DTM. They also will support the private ELMS team running the R10
Dave T. 3:52PM (1/22/2009)
Don't forget *cough* Cars.com *cough*
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Cellien 4:09PM (1/22/2009)
Damn, wish Statham was doing a Fiesta commercial, it would ooze bad ass-ness!
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Tragedy 11:31PM (1/22/2009)
Isn't he British? I guess he skipped history class when they were teaching about World War II.
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BoxerFanatic 1:09AM (1/23/2009)
If you are living that far in the past, then Audi, Porsche, VW, Mercedes Benz, BMW, Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini (double whammy) should probably not be advertising in the US anyway. Don't look know, Fiat is perhaps cooperating with Chrysler, and VW is too. Mercedes owned them for a while. VAG and BMW own more british nameplates than are still British-held.
Or you could realize that it isn't 1945 anymore, and that the Marshall plan worked, and we're all decent friends now. Even those Japanese folks are getting along with us well, too, even after all that nuclear weapon stuff...
Who knows how long, and how many lives on both sides it would have taken to end that war if they hadn't used them. We might not be so chummy now if it had gone that way, considering how horrific that fighting island to island in the pacific was.
Live in the NOW, it might help you. History is important to learn from, but the key is to LEARN from it, not to still be living in it.
TurboPanzer 3:05AM (1/23/2009)
@Boxer: Well put.