While most of its luxury rivals retrench, Audi is looking to grab more market share with a stunt-filled Super Bowl spot.
After generating buzz with its "Godfather" spoof last year, the German brand is back with an action-packed ad that makes fun of the clichéd Hollywood chase scene - along with its closest competitors.
The 60-second spot, which riffs on everything from "Miami Vice" and "Magnum, P.I." to "Bullitt," features action stud Jason Statham on a high-speed chase through several decades. Statham, best known from the "Transporter" film series, actually drives an Audi S8 in the second and third installments of that franchise.
As he rushes through the 1970s, '80s and '90s, he wrecks one luxury car after another - Mercedes, BMW and Lexus - while trying to evade capture. Finally, he's able to escape when he jumps into a super-charged Audi A6 that takes him into modern times.
The tagline reads, "Progress is beautiful." Audi's advertising agency, San Francisco-based Venables Bell & Partners, created the ad.
Last year, Audi jumped into the 2008 Super Bowl after a two-decade hiatus with a parody of the famous horse-head-in-bed scene from "The Godfather," except the movie producer woke up to find the grille of a luxury car under his bed sheets.
Audi says the ad scored well with dealers and helped traffic to its Web site jump almost 200 percent.
So while most car companies are pulling back on TV ad spending, Audi is stepping up its marketing budget this year, by as much as 20 percent, and returning to the big game.
Audi reported a 7 percent decrease in sales in 2008, although that was far better than most of its competitors. At the same time, Audi saw its US market share rise.
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