The boys in blue are coming, or in this case, the boys in green as Audi launch the new Audi A3 with a creative campaign – centring on a fictional authority called the Green Police – aired during last night’s Super Bowl.

In marketing terms the campaign is a big deal when you consider the Super Bowl provides advertisers with the prime chance to reach an enormous audience in one hit (last year’s event was seen by 151 million people). On top of that, according to advertising trade press, a 30 second spot this year cost between $2.5m and $3m. Meaning a considerable slice of a brand’s marketing budget – even a brand of Audi’s stature– goes into their Super Bowl spot(s).

Over the years, the Super Bowl has become an occasion for mega brands to unveil their latest product or announce a new direction, and for advertising agencies to show off their creative muscle. It seems Audi’s green police campaign went down a treat with American audiences as USA Today’s Ad Meter – a focus group led survey – shows that the campaign gained an average score of 7.35 (out of 10) making it the joint 4th favourite ad shown during this colossal event.

10 most popular
Advertiser	Description	Sec.	Qtr.	Score
Mars Snickers	Octogenarian actors Betty White and Abe Vigoda play in a casual football game.	30	1st	8.68
Doritos	Dog with bark collar rules.	30	1st	8.27
Bud Light	Man builds a house out of beer cans.	30	1st	7.91
Anheuser-Busch	Clydesdale’s friend.	60	4th	7.82
Coca-Cola	Sleepwalker going through rough terrain gets cold Coke.	60	3rd	7.36
Audi A3 TDI	Audi diesel pleases green police.	60	4th	7.35
E-Trade	Talking baby tries to explain to jealous girlfriend why he didn’t call.	30	3rd	7.34
Budweiser	Teamwork helps beer truck.	60	2nd	7.29
Bridgestone	Guys have an unexpected passenger: a killer whale.	30	1st	7.24
Monster Worldwide	A woodland beaver has exceptional musical talent with a fiddle.	30	1st	7.19

But just who are the Green Police? The Green Police are caricatures of today’s Green Movement; dedicatedly striving to help turn everyday consumers into environmentally responsible citizens and by any means necessary! Employing the skills of an anteater to sniff out contraband and sifting through domestic waste for misplaced recyclables.

The Green Police certainly don’t take any prisoners, but their reasons are noble; inspiring naive (or just downright lazy) consumers towards finding green enlightenment – or through fear of getting cuffed at their local supermarket!

Either way, the ad is doing a great job cementing Audi’s “Green” credentials in the States and winning over new fans by not taking themselves too seriously. Interestingly, Audi have chosen the Audi  A3 TDI to front the campaign, which was recently awarded the 2010 Green Car of the Year Award at the LA Auto Show by Green Car Journal. Suggesting that the A3 TDI’s outstanding fuel efficiency is the standard to which Audi is now setting its sight with all their exclusive models.

What do you think? Does the idea of the next Q7 model having a CO2 output of 99g/km seem feasible, or the stuff of fantasy?

And off course we saved the best for last, here it is this year’s Audi Super Bowl Ad starring the new highly efficient Audi A3 1.6 TDI.

This week sees a newer, more efficient version of the Audi A3 1.6 TDI become available to order. The new A3 significantly undercuts the original on emissions and boosts emissions due to it aerodynamic modifications, start-stop recuperation technology along with advance common rail fuel injection – a remarkable feat considering the A3 1.6 TDI is already the most economical car, in terms of CO2 output, within the premium car sector.

According to Audi, the A3 1.6 TDI’s CO2 output has been cut down to 99g/km, boosting its combined economy to 74.3mpg, which is significant step up from current variations of the 1.6 TDI which offer a class-leading combination of 69.9mpg and 109g/km CO2 output.

From what we can gather, the key reason for the new A3’s increased efficiency can be attributed to its refined standard five-speed manual transmission, a reduced ride height, a revised under body that reduces aerodynamic drag and lighter 15-inch alloy wheels.

Although minor by themselves, these alterations are synergised perfectly with Audi’s innovative Start-Stop technology and energy recuperation system to deliver its remarkable combined economy figure.

The best part is that these improvements are at no expense to the established A3 versions. The Audi A3 1.6 TDI carries the same 105PS power output and 250Nm torque peak as other versions. Meaning the new version can match performance, clearing 62mph from rest in 11.4 seconds and offering the option to continue to 121mph.

Overall, the A3 is another worthy ambassador of Audi’s Vorsprung durch Technik ideology; championing the cause with boundary pushing efficiency.

The Audi A3 and the Audi Q7 V12 added two more awards to the huge collection of accolades Audi models have amassed this year. The A3 was named UK’s Executive Used Car of the Decade by CAP while the Q7 was elected SUV of the year by Top Gear’s Team.

CAP is a leading vehicle valuation body that supplies substantial data to finance institutions, contract hire, leasing companies as well as insurance companies. According to Mark Norman from CAP the Audi A3 range pioneered the concept that a small vehicle can succeed in the premium sector, “true benchmark vehicle” and a “genuine pioneer” was Norman’s exact words for the Audi A3.

One of the main reasons the Audi A3 was named executive car of the year was the fact that models like the 2.0 TDI retains 43% of its value over 3 years – highest for a premium compact hatchback. The fact that the A3 1.6 TDI led the way in its segment when the fuel efficiency and low CO2 emissions factor helped the A3 grab one more accolade to Audi.

With a CO2 output of only 109g/km the A3 1.6 TDI can save serious money in road car taxes add that to Audi leasing and contract hire options and you have of the most cost effective vehicles on the market today.

In the mean time the Audi Q7 V12 6.0 TDI quattro was named by Jeremy Clarkson & Co as SUV of the Year. The 2009 Top Gear’s Car of the Year award that is coming in this month’ issue of the Top Gear magazine will have the Audi Q7 V12 TDI as the best SUV of 2009.

Audi Q7 V12 – a magnificent whirlwind of sins – our SUV of the Year

TopGear Team

Vorsprung Durch Technik means “progress through technology” and a literal translation would be ‘advancement through technology’. This strapline has been used by Audi since the 80’s to highlight the company reputation for technical expertise.

Progress through technology has not only been Audi’s ad strapline but has also been the company’ working philosophy since its creation back in 1909. Since then, Audi has contributed to a number of milestones for the auto industry.

Over the past decade, Audi has revolutionised the auto industry with a number of technological advancements that prove performance and efficiency can be combined without sacrificing one or the other.

When Audi’s engineers develop a new technology, they have only one thing in mind: increase vehicle efficiency without sacrificing performance – hence Audi Space Frame and the ultra-precise S-tronic transmission.

ASF (Audi Space Frame) is an innovative way to build a vehicle’s body with a lightweight high-strength aluminium frame that gives a car outstanding safety, excellent performance and phenomenal efficiency, while the S-tronic transmission – with its shorter gear changes increase fuel efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions – combines the agility and responsiveness of a manual gearbox with the convenience of an Automatic.

With the TDI engines, Audi simply redefined the diesel engine; with its unique common rail system for more efficiency and power delivering better performance along with a 15% reduction in fuel consumption while the TFSI engines where the first to combine petrol direct injection and turbocharging to provide greater power with reduced fuel consumption.

On the new TDIe engines, the ‘e’ stands for efficient. These engines are without a doubt the most efficient diesel engines in the world and it’s already on the roads running models such as the Audi A6 2.0 TDIe and the Audi A4 2.0 TDIe (with remarkable CO2 emissions of only 139g/km, resulting in an annual road tax of just £120 and a competitive 18% company car tax rating).

Audi is cleaning up the premium sector with its highly efficient models. The new Audi A3 1.6 TDI has the lowest CO2 emissions in its class with just 109g/km. For Audi, good efficiency means low emissions and low emissions means cheaper road tax, making the A3 range one of the best choices for a company car. Add that to the Audi contract hire and leasing options you can potentially save thousands of pound each year.

One of Audi’s most innovative and economy focused technologies is the Recuperation Technology, which recycles the energy used to brake to lighten the engine’s load reducing fuel consumption by up to 3%. Already making the difference in models like the new Audi A8 and the next gen of Audi A3s.

As you can see, Audi follow the “Vorsprung Durch Technik” strapline from the design to the quality inspection process each vehicle goes through. Such attention to detail coupled with a genuine environmental concern has earned Audi a series of awards over the years. The most recent high-profile accolade going to the Audi A3, which has been named 2009 Green Car of the Year by the Green Car Journal. Another massive award coming from What Car? Magazine, who have given the title of “Most efficient luxury car” to the A8 2.8 FSI.

Now its time for you to have your say about Audi highly efficient models, if you had to choose which Audi model would you crown the most Highly Efficient of them all?

A week after we announced that Audi was cleaning the premium sector with the next gen of Audi A3 with array of highly efficient diesel and also petrol engines comes the first accolade for this eco-friendly generation of Audi A3s.

The Audi A3 TDI earned the prestigious title of 2010 Green Car of the Year. The announcement was made yesterday morning during the L.A Auto Show as Ron Rogan, editor and publisher of Green Car Journal and editor of Greencar.com presented the award to Audi of America President, Johan de Nysschen.

Since 2005 the Green Car Journal has been awarding manufacturers who are working hard towards developing vehicles with an environmental concern. This year the Audi A3 TDI emerged victorious among five other finalists.

The trailblazing TDI 2.0 engine powering the A3 delivers 140hp with an impressive 236 lb-ft of torque, yet achieves a remarkable 50 mpg (42 mpg US) fuel efficiency, lowest in its segment. That means the Audi A3 TDI achieves 50% better fuel economy than a comparable gasoline engine.

“We consider the Green Car of the Year® title one of the most important industry accolades. It is of paramount importance for us to develop vehicles that achieve the very touchstones this award stands for: fuel efficiency and environmental impact. Rather than novelty features, we consider these attributes imperative to the future of automobile design. We are honoured with this recognition for the Audi A3 TDI.” said Johan de Nysschen, President Audi of America.

The Audi A3 TDI was not the only model to take an accolade back to Ingolstadt, the Audi A5 was named 2010’s Best Resale Value Award luxury car winner by Kelley Blue Book’s (www.kbb.com) and was honoured in two categories: Top 10 Model overall and Best Luxury Car. Not only did the Audi Q7 take home the Earth, Wind & Power(SM) environmental award, it was only named Most Environmentally Progressive Truck of the Year.

Audi A3 2.0 TDI, with its start-stop technology, has become the most efficient and economical option in its segment. An opinion, of course, but an opinion supported by stats and facts that speak for themselves.

Back in October Audi announced that the next gen of Audi A3 will feature both start-stop and recuperation system: two of the company’s most economy focused technologies and for optimal results; the high-tech S-tronic will be available for an extra £1,420.

At the time test figures were impressive and, as usual, performance and efficiency were kept at the highest possible levels while emissions were reduce considerably with the Audi A3 1.6 TDI registering a sector-leading figure of only 109g/km of CO2.

The ongoing Audi crackdown on emissions has yielded yet another efficiency breakthrough within the A3 range, this time for the Audi 2.0 TDI models, which became the cleanest at their level within the premium sector this month.

Thanks to the addition of start-stop and recuperation technology, the ever-popular diesel three-door and five-door A3 Sportback and A3 Cabriolet variants now benefit from major CO2 cuts of up to 20g/km or around 16 per cent, bringing output down to as little as 115g/km for three-door and Sportback versions.

The improvements apply immediately to all Audi A3 2.0 TDI models equipped with six-speed manual transmission. They help to increase economy by at least 8mpg across the board and cut CO2 output by up to 20g/km (16%), boosting the three-door and five-door A3 2.0 TDIs from a combined total of 55.4mpg to 64.2mpg, thus cutting emissions from 134g/km to 115g/km. The Cabriolet benefits from an 8.1mpg increase to 61.4mpg and a 20g/km CO2 reduction to 119g/km, another lowest-in-class figure in the premium Cabriolet category.

In terms of company car taxation, this significant downward shift repositions the A3 2.0 TDI in the 13% BIK category, the movement from its original 18% position equating to a saving in annual tax liability of £373 for the three-door standard hatchback model, which will now cost a [40%] tax payer £972.

The new technology which they adopt from these highly focused alternatives has had no bearing on their prices, which for fixed head Audi 2.0 TDI 140PS versions range from £18,860 OTR to £23,630 OTR, and for Audi A3 Cabriolets from £22,635 OTR to £26,865 OTR.

Last week, we reported that the Audi A3 assembly line has earned the Automotive Lean Production Award for streamed line production processes and exemplary excellence; as promised today we’ll look into detail at this highly efficient assembly process.

The Audi A3 assembly line established an industry benchmark thanks to Audi’s philosophy of focusing on continuous improvement.

At the Ingolstadt site, 1,800 employees work in a three-shift schedule to assemble approximately 800 units of Audi A3 and Audi A3 Sportback every day. In total the assembly sector encompasses 28,000 square meters incorporating more than 150 distinct processes via a streamlined chain of operations and seamless workflow which are the product of continuous improvements.

The A3 assembly process is firmly focused on the employees with an emphasis on ergonomics, cushioned floor coverings, perfectly organized material magazines and an ergonomically designed assembly seat facilitates the installation of head airbags.

What is more fascinating is that simple ideas often have the greatest impact and nearly all improvements are suggested by the employees themselves.

Peter Kessler Plant Manager at the Audi Ingolstadt site, said:

“Our employees drive our progress, and their expertise is our primary asset. Their supply of suggestions is inexhaustible and we implement every good idea as speedily as possible. An improvement in ergonomics automatically boosts quality and enhances efficiency.”

One of the principles that most impressed the Automotive Lean Production Award Judges about the Audi A3 assembly line, was the One-Touch-One-Motion principle, which denotes the possibility of completing a task with a single hand motion thanks to intelligently positioned materials and equipment.

Adjacent areas to the Audi A3 assembly line also play an important role in the overall workflow. Arrangement and pre-assembled parts organized in a fishbone configuration near the line guarantee the smooth flow of the process.

Audi knows that a happy employee is a motivated employee that is why Audi has an employee suggestions scheme where employees can suggest improvements and modifications to help make the assembly line more efficient, if a suggestion is approved and it saves Audi money a considerable share of this is paid in gratitude to the contributing employee.

Last year alone Audi received 33,460 suggestions worldwide which consequently saved Audi 50 million Euros.

Audi couldn’t ask for a better year to celebrate its 100 years of car making history, and what a year it has been for the Ingolstadt Company so far. Awards of all sorts, special marquees at renowned auto shows like the Goodwood festival of Speed and the Frankfurt Auto Show, not the mention the introduction of highly efficient engines, new models and ultra-innovative concept cars.

Last week, Audi just added two new accolades to its collection, the first comes from the biggest internet poll in the automotive industry, the online auto portal “AutoScout24″ conducted its 8th Internet Auto Award and guess what, Audi achieved an amazing total of four first places.

The Audi A3 defended its title in compact class and finished top for the second year in a row, while the Audi A4 reigned in the midsize class. In the upper midsize class the Audi A6 knocked down some tough competition to finish first and last but not least the Audi R8 topped the sports cars and coupe category.

The Autoscout24 poll is aimed to find Europe’s most popular cars, the voting was carried out in several languages, voter could choose from 331 vehicles in 9 categories and over 250,000 votes were computed.

Meanwhile the assembly line for the Audi A3 and Audi A3 Sportback won the Automotive Lean Production Award for streamed line production processes and exemplary excellence via efficient and economical approaches.

If you want to find out what is Audi’s secret to such a highly efficient assembly line don’t miss our next post were we’ll look into detail at the Audi A3 assembly process.

As Peter Kössler, Plant Manager at the Audi Ingolstadt site said:

“Today’s state of the art is only temporary – tomorrow we will be even better.”

When it comes to fuel efficiency, low CO2 emissions and high performance, Audi leads the way among the premium car manufacturers. To confirm the efficiency excellence of its models, Audi has put 20 models to the test in a long distance trip through Europe which the company named “Efficiency Challenge A to B”.

“Audi’s Efficiency Challenge A to B” will cover exact 4,182Km through Europe in 9 days, from A on the Lofoten archipelago in Norway to Bée on Lake Maggiore in northern Italy.

To prove that efficiency is a standard in every Audi, the company is not only putting to test its optimised fuel efficient models but also the top sporty models of each line, in total Audi has lined up five model series for this Efficiency Challenge.

The Efficiency challenge will also mark the day view for the ultra-efficient Audi A3 1.6 TDI with CO2 emissions of only 99g/Km who will be joined by other models including the more sportive S3 Sportback.

Other models taking part on “Audi’s Efficiency Challenge A to B” are the Audi A4 TDI e, the 333hp Audi S4, Audi A5 Sportback 2.0 TFSI, the Audi A5 Sportback 3.2 FSI. Representing the Audi Q7 family will be the Audi Q7 3.0 TDI clean diesel quattro and the more powerful Audi Q7 6.0 TDI quattro.

The TT range is also taking part on the Challenge with models like the Audi TT 2.0 TDI quattro and the top of the range Audi TT RS.

This Efficiency Challenge will also serve to highlight even further the effectiveness of Audi’s modular efficiency platform which brings together a broad portfolio of highly effective technologies.

The tour which already started the past Tuesday September 22nd has been broken down into three stages, each consisting of several days. The first runs from Å to Trondheim in southern Norway; the second to the German capital city of Berlin; and the third ends at the final destination on Wednesday September 30 at the town of Bée overlooking Lake Maggiore. The tour includes a wide range of roads and landscapes, taking participants along the coastal roads on the Lofoten islands and across Germany’s autobahns. The route encompasses impressive cities such as Oslo, Copenhagen and Prague as well as the towering mountains of the Alps.

We want to hear from you now. Which Audi model do you think will have the best fuel efficiency?

Leave your opinion in our comments section and make sure you don’t miss our follow up article with the challenge figures.

Audi has done it again! Audi has raised the efficiency bar once again by increasing fuel economy and lowering CO2 emissions to impressive 99g/km for one of its most popular models, the Audi A3.

The soon to be released Audi A3 1.6 TDI will be powered by a four cylinder TDI engine capable of doing 74mpg while emitting only 99g/km of CO2, this puts the Audi A3 1.6 TDI in Band A of the new VED Rates to take place next year. For more information about Company car taxes visit: Company car tax.

As we all know Audi can improve fuel efficiency and lower CO2 emission without affecting the engine performance and the story remains the same with this four-cylinder TDI engine. With a max output of 105hp and a powerful 250 Nm of torque, the 3-Doors Audi A3 1.6 TDI sprints from 0-62 in 11.4 while the Sportback version reaches 64mph in 11.7.

The exemplary fuel efficiency of only 74mpg and the extremely low CO2 emissions are only possible thanks to Audi’s modular efficiency platform, features like the exclusive Start/Stop technology and the innovative energy-recovery system play an important role in improving the above figures.

The Audi A3 1.6 TDI will be released in two versions: 3-Doors and Sportback, both will have manual five-speed transmissions and a gear-change indicator to help drivers select the most appropriate gear; studies conducted by Audi reveal that 30 percent of fuel consumption depends on a given driver’s decisions and driving style.

Audi hasn’t released prices for the A3 1.6 TDI and the A3 Sportback 1.6 TDI, but we believe they will the similar to models already offering the same performance. Both models are expected to hit Audi Dealers around the UK in the first half of 2010.