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Audi goes out of this world to sell R8 at the Super Bowl

Audi lets the new R8 V10 Plus blast off in the German brand's space-themed Super Bowl ad titled The Commander. The touching commercial puts a forlorn, retired astronaut behind the supercar's wheel, and he gets to relive the experience of leaving the bonds of Earth. Plus, David Bowie's Starman is the perfect choice for the score. Audi's ad makes the clever decision to link the supercar's rapid acceleration to a rocket launch in in viewers' minds. The spot also resonates emotionally because the retired astronaut only experiences the R8's performance because his son is worried about him. While not as humorous, we think the new spot does a better job of selling the R8's capabilities than the company's famous The Godfather Super Bowl commercial. The 60-second version of The Commander (above) will air during the game's first quarter. You can watch a 90-second cut below to enjoy a little more of the R8 and Bowie. SHOOTING FOR THE MOON, AUDI DEBUTS BIG GAME SPOT CALLED THE COMMANDER 60-second spot to air in first quarter of the big game Feb. 7 "The Commander" to feature the next-generation Audi R8, arriving in U.S. showrooms in Spring 2016 2016 marks return and eighth year for the brand as a big-game advertiser February 03, 2016 - HERNDON, Virginia -- Audi of America returns to the biggest night in football with a 60-second commercial titled "The Commander." A 90-second extended version of the spot is now live on the Audi YouTube channel. Featuring the all-new Audi R8 V10 plus, "The Commander" will air on Sunday, Feb. 7 during the first quarter of the Big Game. San Francisco-based Venables Bell & Partners created the commercial. "The Commander" tells the story of a retired astronaut who rediscovers his lust for life. Viewers watch as the man, surrounded by memories of the golden age of space exploration, sits solemnly, deep in reflection. When his son hands over the keys to a new Audi R8 V10 plus, he gets behind the wheel and relives the thrill of a rocket-like ride under the stars. Viewers watch as newfound life stirs within the Commander. Audi reminds us that amazing things happen when we shoot for the moon. The 2017 R8 is the fastest and most powerful Audi of all time. In its second generation, the all-new Audi R8 V10 plus has a top speed of 205 mph with a 3.2-second 0-60 mph time for "rocket-like" performance.

A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.

First official Audi R8 photo leaks

The next-gen Audi R8 makes its grand debut in a just a few days at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show. However, leaks aren't uncommon for such a highly anticipated model, and it appears that the first official shot of the future supercar is now online. Autoblog en Espanol claims this is the first leaked factory photo showing the new Audi R8 completely undisguised. The single image depicts the supercar from the front, and it looks a lot like both Audi's own official teaser and the previous blurry image from Instagram. Based on this picture, the German designers thickened the outline around the grille at the front and added vertical slats at each corner. They also removed the gentle curve in the headlights in favor of a completely angular look. While the side blades were one of the major styling features of the original, their appearance has been toned down by removing the vertical, contrasting strip running up the body. Though the exterior design seems to evolve the R8 slightly, there are some big changes for the powertrain. Audi is ditching the V8 for the latest model and opting for two tunes of the 5.2-liter V10. The standard version gets 540 horsepower, and the Plus pushes output up to 610 hp. The top trim can reportedly hit 60 miles per hour in 3.2 seconds and reach a top speed of 205 mph. Although, there are already the rumors of other variants, including a turbo V6, coming later. Related Video: