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Volkswagen Group, BMW Z4 top Total Value Awards by Strategic Vision

It was just nine months ago that Strategic Vision announced its 2011 Total Value Awards, but you don't have to wait until next year for the 2012 awards. The Volkswagen Group keeps its lead as the number one brand, with seven products taking top category spots: Golf, Jetta Wagon, CC, Eos and Audi A3 Wagon, Q5 and Q7. Strategic Vision says "true innovation" - "rich and impactful, intuitive, motivational, in-depth and is able to trigger description by the user in great specificity" - is the open secret of the brands with the strongest showings. Results are culled from 77,153 owners covering more than 350 new cars bought between September of 2011 and 2012 ranked in the Total Value Index (TVI).
Other notable winners are Hyundai-Kia following VW in the brand category and having the Hyundai Elantra and Kia Sorento among category winners, the BMW Z4 taking the premium roadster category and the highest overall score of any vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt continuing to gather silverware in the Special Category, nabbing the second-highest score of all and representative of "nearly perfect innovation," and Chrysler and Dodge being most improved.
Check out the press release below for your day's dose of jargon and all the winners.

Audi's Super Bowl commercial hopes for a more equal future

While many of the automotive Super Bowl commercials we've seen so far have been comedic, Audi's ad takes a more serious, but hopeful, tack. The ad revolves around a soap-box derby race in which only one driver is a girl. The rest of the grid has a bunch of (oddly mean-looking) boys. On the sidelines is the daughter's dad, who narrates for the duration of the commercial. He doesn't talk about the race, though. He instead muses on the income gap between men and women that he's seen through his life and his parents' lives. He wonders how he would explain to his daughter that men are valued more than women, regardless of their ability. All the while, the ad shows his daughter steadily moving up in position in the race. It seems to be a metaphor for the progress women have made over the years in equality, but still not quite reaching the goal. At the end of the race, the daughter manages to win by a nose, and at this point, the father becomes a bit more optimistic. He thinks that maybe he won't have to explain this because, perhaps, women will have equal value when she grows up. He and his daughter then gather up their stuff and take off for parts unknown in an Audi S5 Sportback, followed by a message stating Audi of America's dedication to equal pay. The message isn't subtle, but that's fine since it's a good one. It's surely good PR for Audi, too, and is a far better attempt at attracting women to the brand than something like the horribly condescending Seat Mii by Cosmopolitan. Related Video:

Audi partners with AT&T for 4G LTE, will offer Mobile Share data plan

Audi has made a big splash at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, joining the Open Automotive Alliance with Google, Honda, Hyundai, General Motors and NVIDIA, debuting a next-generation cockpit that's destined for the third-generation Audi TT and promising to offer laser headlights in a production car. But much like Apple during the Steve Jobs days, it has "just one more thing."
The German luxury brand has announced that it will, like Chevrolet, be teaming with AT&T to offer 4G LTE connectivity in its vehicles. The first model to benefit will be the 2015 Audi A3.
"With the introduction of the new A3 family Audi is putting the most advanced technology into the compact luxury segment," said Scott Keogh, President, Audi of America in a press release. "Offering drivers a 4G LTE connection will provide the fastest in-vehicle connection available and significantly enhance the infotainment experience."