Blame it on the fact that we’re based in Philadelphia, but we do not usually lump professional football fans and luxury car enthusiasts in the same category, unless by “enthusiast” you mean “thief.” Nevertheless, this afternoon Herndon, Virginia-based Audi of America announced the launch of a 5-year sponsorship deal with the Washington Redskins.

According to Audi, the promotional partnership will provide a unique and valuable branding opportunity that they intend to extend beyond the obligatory beer Koozies. In addition to more signage than you can shake a first down measurement stick at, Audi will also add its name to the heavy reconstruction currently in process on the east end of FedExField that will eventually become (dramatic pause) The Audi Club.

Scheduled to be officially opened on September 20th, the 13,000-square-foot, climate-controlled Audi Club is intended to provide an über luxury experience for “premium” fans and will feature two Audi display vehicles, 16 large flat screen televisions, and 4 flat-screen screen monitors displaying intelligent commentary sent by Redskins fans via the team’s Audi-sponsored Twitter app, “Twackle.”

“We’re thrilled with the way Audi has integrated its product and brand into a signature presence at the stadium,” said Washington Redskins Chief Operating Officer, Mitch Gershman. “The exposure of Audi and its world-class automobiles to our fans is particularly appropriate in the FedExField setting.”

Source: Audi

With idiots like this trolling the streets of Moscow, I really don’t fear another Cold War. They’ll just shoot off a bunch of fireworks with ICBM stickers slapped on the side. Two more gut-wrenching pics after the jump.

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An Endless Number Of Options

The adornment of the MINI, either just the roof, or the entire vehicle is as much a part of the diminutive speedster’s heritage as its bug-eyed headlights. Of course, these days you don’t have to commit to repainting or permanently defacing your MINI to add a little flair to your life. And you can never have too much flair. MINI Motoring Graphics offers an endless number (they say 5 million) of options to cover part or all of your vehicle, meaning you don’t have to just settle for that tired old Union Jack.

Limited Edition Graphic

It is important to note that adding a vinyl application to any part of the car, in most cases, requires a professional installation. Meaning that unless you have experience doing such things, do-it-yourselfers should just pony up the extra cash to have it done right. The roof graphics run close to 500 bucks and can be used on both regular MINIs and the MINI Clubman with or without a sunroof. Though the number of available options for the sunroof is limited some.

According to the website, all products are printed with only the finest vinyl and laminate available are completely removable without damaging, scratching, or otherwise defacing your MINI. In fact, adding these vinyl coverings offer an additional protection to those that may inadvertantly scratch the roof or other body panel while loading up a bike, snowboard, etc. The graphic is a thin, photo quality protective membrane, that help ward off the occassional scratch.

The “wraps” are manufactured utilizing professional automotive grade vinyl that is custom printed through a 6-color process with one of thousands of unique or licensed designs. The wrap is then coated with a scratchproof finish and custom cut, creating a product that fits a specific model of MINI perfectly – providing a long lasting stylized automotive makeover.

If none of the countless options available on the website appeal to your creative side, you can even submit your own original design to ensure that your MINI is as unique as you want it to be. The best part is that unlike a tattoo, removing this personalization is painless. Check out their website to find the perfect style for you.

With the imminent demise of Pontiac upon us, we ask ourselves “What defines Driving Excitement?” How about a giant screaming chicken plastered to your bonnet? Here is the brief story of one of the most unmistakable symbols of car culture, the hood bird.

In 1970, under the direction of Bill Porter (Chief Designer of the 1970 Firebird), Ted Schroeder was in charge of designing the Trans Am package. To this day he can’t recall who floated the idea, but Schroeder sketched the huge decals for two different 1970 Trans Am show cars. Using traditional racing colors, one was to be white with a blue hood bird and vice versa. Designer Norm Inouye finalized the artwork and 3M produced two unique decals. After catching a sneak peek of the work in progress, GM Vice President Bill Mitchell shot the idea down immediately because of the “Indian blanket on the hood”.

In 1972, the new Chief Designer for the Firebird, John Schinella, gave it another shot. Changing the color of the decal and throwing it on a red prototype 1973 Trans Am, he drove the streets of Woodward Ave and garnered huge praise from the general public. Knowing that Bill Mitchell was a fan of the black-and-gold John Player Special paint scheme, he had a black Trans Am painted up with a gold foil bird and gold pinstripes. This iconic look captured Mitchell’s attention and the hood bird was born.

Good luck to all those screaming chicken fans out there, and we can only hope that one day this phoenix shall rise again.

1970 Blue on White1970 White on Blue

1973 Black/Blue on White

1974 Black/Orange on Red

1977 Black/Gold on Black

1980 Red on Maroon

More here.

In addition to the hefty purchase incentives Chrysler LLC announced this week, the Pentastar has unveiled another tactic for luring potential customers onto dealer lots: the “Employee Pricing Plus Plus” program (and yes, that is grammatically correct, so stow your pious letters-to-the-editor). Officially kicking off today, January 26, 2009, the Employee Pricing Plus Plus program extends employee lease/purchase benefits to all customers, offering discounts of up to $3,500 on 2009 model year vehicles and $6,000 on 2008 model year vehicles. In addition to the very enticing offer, Chrysler is also offering up to 48 months of 0% percent financing for qualified buyers (which, it is worth noting, is still not generous enough to goad anyone into purchasing a Chrysler Sebring).

PRESS RELEASE

Chrysler LLC Announces New “Employee Pricing Plus Plus” Program for All Customers

New vehicle customers receive employee price on all 2008 and 2009 Chrysler, Jeep® and Dodge vehicles
Customers also receive discounts of up to $3,500 on 2009 model year vehicles and $6,000 on 2008 model year vehicles
Zero percent financing is available for up to 48 months
$1,000 consumer bonus cash is available on most models when financed at Chrysler Financial or local credit union
New program is effective beginning on Jan. 26, 2009

Auburn Hills, Mich., Jan 22, 2009 – Chrysler LLC announced today that it will offer the new “Employee Pricing Plus Plus” program to all customers toward the purchase or lease of a new 2008 or 2009 Chrysler, Jeep® or Dodge vehicle. In addition to the employee price, customers will be eligible for cash discounts of up to $3,500 for 2009 model year vehicles and up to $6,000 on 2008 model year vehicles. Chrysler Financial is also offering zero percent financing to qualified customers for up to 48 months. Other finance terms and rates are also available.
“Chrysler is offering America the same pricing our employees receive through the new ‘Employee Pricing Plus Plus’ program with great savings off the Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price, plus cash discounts of up to $3,500 on 2009 models, plus zero percent financing through Chrysler Financial,” said Steven Landry, Executive Vice President – North American Sales, Marketing, Mopar Parts and Service. “With affordable financing available and some of the best pricing we have offered in recent months, this really is a great time to visit a Chrysler, Jeep or Dodge dealer.”

The “Employee Pricing Plus Plus” incentive program is available to all customers beginning on Mon., Jan. 26. Dodge Sprinter is not included in this program.

The new “Employee Pricing Plus Plus” program will be featured in a comprehensive ad campaign starting Jan. 26, and includes national print, broadcast and digital media. The overall campaign continues with the “Driving America” theme combined with the newly available Employee Pricing.

In 2009, Citroen will honor its 90th year of existence by giving a new, modern update to its classic chevron logo. Although the new badge has already appeared on the GTbyCITROEN concept vehicle, which debuted at the Paris auto show back in October, the first production vehicle to bear Citroen’s new grin will be the C3 Picasso compact MPV. Intended to represent the herringbone pattern of the helical gear, unlike many other automakers, Citroen’s chevron applique is not applied in a uniform manner to each vehicle in the Citroen lineup. Rather, Citroen takes great pains to ensure each logo gels with the artistic lines of the car (which is not altogether surprising given the French preference for the frous-frous) while still maintaining enough similarity to serve its ultimate purpose.

Explained Vincent Besson, Citroen’s head of products and markets, “…we prefer to modify the chevrons so that they enhance the balance and harmony of the overall front-end styling. There are winged chevrons on the C4, C5 and C6, but that doesn’t mean you’ll see them on all future Citroen models. It might not be as easy and as appropriate to add chevrons like these to a later model.”

Source: Motor Authority

Yesterday, news of Ford wielding the legal axe upon fan site, TheRangerStation.com, had several “The Man Is Evil, Dude” auto blogs out for Ford blood. Today, many of those same blogs have since published retractions, citing they weren’t aware of Ford’s official position on the matter until today, presumably after receiving clarification from Ford. However, had the aforementioned blogs been enterprising enough to search TheRangerStation forums in their entirety before slapping together a post, they would have found the “whole story” yesterday – replete with 55 pages worth of legal documents from the law firm itself. Nevertheless, many failed to review that pertinent information before going to print, and instead chose to assume that Ford was arbitrarily picking on TRS in an abusive exercise of their corporate omnipotence. Well, as it turns out, they were right.

When RideLust reported on the story yesterday, we/I did so flush with the knowledge that TRS had been manufacturing and selling official TRS club insignia bearing the Ford logo without explicit permission from Ford. Now usually the “well everybody else was doing it” excuse isn’t viable outside of the third grade, but when used within the context of automotive enthusiast groups, it is. For every vehicle on the street right now, there is at least one web-based fan forum convinced of its automotive supremacy. For every one of those fan forums, there are countless stickers, mudflaps, hood ornaments, etc., expressing sentiments like “FoMoCo” or, for the Chevy crowd, “FoNoGo.” So yes, TRS was using the Ford logo, but you’d be hard-pressed to find any fanboy site that doesn’t. Does that meant that TRS isn’t guilty of copyright infringement? No. Was/is Ford justified in taking legal action? Yes. It was never my – nor RideLust’s – intent to insinuate that Ford was unfairly prosecuting TRS, because the facts of the matter were very clearly presented to me before I formed any opinion. Thus, what I did intend to express was my utter disbelief at Ford’s apparent lack of common sense.

See you, Ford, are not exactly enjoying any sort of overwhelming popularity with the American public right now, and although any action you take in pursuit of protecting your intellectual property is completely justifiable, do you really think it wise to risk losing any of your limited support over some crudely plagiarized sticker? TRS was pulling in like, what, maybe a hundred bucks a month on those decals? And the TRS fan-base spends (or is willing to spend) what, a couple hundred bucks a month on a Ford truck payment? Would you like a pencil and paper, or can you do the math in your head?

Perhaps this is a rather simplistic view of company-consumer relations, but it seems to me that if a company is losing billions of dollars a month in sales and holds a current NYSE market value of a paltry $3.20 a share (according to price last listed in my portfolio), it would be in its best interest to cling to any sort of support vehicle that it has. Now of course this doesn’t mean that you have to tolerate trademark infringement, but there’s got to be at least one person left on the Ford Public Relations payroll who could devise an equally-as-effective, less rigid approach. You’re already waging a pretty epic war on the economic front, but thanks to Mulally’s gift of foresight and Ford’s steady creep up the dependability charts, Ford actually has a legitimate chance of dominating the domestic market as the people’s favorite. So for crying out loud guys, don’t blow it over some horny 20-something’s rendering of a busty broad straddling the Blue Oval.

Volkswagen Golf – Enjoy The Everyday
Agency: DDB London

The Rest:

Best Cinematography – Audi

Audi R8 – Construction
Agency: BBH

Best Colorist – Saab

Saab Turbo – Turbo
Agency: Lowe Brindfors

Best Original Music – Audi

Audi R6 – Gymnast
Agency: BBH

Best Stunts – Honda

Honda – Jump
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy

Best Casting AND Best Performance by an Actor

This isn’t actually an auto maker, but it’s automotive related, plus it’s a good commercial, so I threw it in anyway. The actor’s name is Adrian Schiller, and he does a great job going through the stages of life after a DUI. Nice.

Vertu, a mobile phone manufacturer and subsidiary of Nokia, has recently added a new luxury cellular device to their exclusive Ascent collection, aimed specifically at upper class automotive enthusiasts. Following in the footsteps of Vertu’s multiple previously released Ferrari-themed mobile devices, the new Ferrari Ascent Ti is styled to reflect the superior design of the Ferrari super car with unique accents such as Ferrari hood inspired battery cover, the obligatory Cavallino/prancing horse logo, and a complimentary 12-month or 12,000-mile supply of tadalifil.

Complimented by both a sapphire crystal display and a stainless steel keypad, the Ferrari Ascent Ti comes with three different high-quality titanium color choices, including Nero (triple Guido black), Rosso (red), and Giallo (yellow) as well as Ferrari engine-inspired ring-tones. Despite the obvious overwhelming buyer’s response Vertu can certainly anticipate in the midst of this positively booming economy, the Ferrari Ascent Ti will be sold (and priced, presumably) as an exclusive model with production limited to only 2,009 units.

Source: Sybarites.org via AutoBlog

I like the Alfa Romeo badge, it has that coat of arms look you expect to see on a the top pocket of a wealthy man’s blazer. It’s nice. But if you look closer you’ll notice there’s actually a serpent eating a person on there, which is a bit bizarre. I’m down with symbolism and imagery, but I had to know what that was all about.

Apparently, that symbol is called a biscione, and the little guy getting eaten is actually a Saracen or Moor (aka: a Muslim). So the whole serpent motif going on there symbolizes the Crusaders’ defeat of the infidels. Neat.

Check out here for more info