Volkswagen's Bourne Ultimatum Tie-Up Done In Good Taste

Anthony Fontanelle
August 13, 2007

When General Motors announced its tie-up with the makers of the movie Transformers, fans were interested to see how the Detroit automaker placed their vehicles in the movie. The use of the Camaro, a modified GMC Topkick, a Hummer H2 and the Pontiac Solstice in the film was said to be overdone. There have been comments that the advertisement of the said vehicles has overshadowed the film in general. But with the recent tie-up between Volkswagen and the Bourne Ultimatum movie, feedback has significantly been more positive.

According to autoblog.com, the use of Volkswagen vehicles in the third installment of the action thriller was done in good taste. Case in point is the display of the Volkswagen emblem. One of the two Volkswagen nameplates used in the movie was the new Touareg 2. In the movie, moviegoers will not be assaulted by blatant shots of the VW emblem as the Touareg used in the movie was involved in an accident that saw its entire grille including the VW logo being wiped out early in the car chase scene.

This apparent lighter tone of product placement can also be witnessed on the use of the other Volkswagen vehicle in the movie. The European-spec Golf GT Sport used in the movie by Nicky Parsons played by Julia Stiles was only shown briefly. This is in contrast to the heavy-handed advertising done by General Motors with their four cars in the film Transformers.

Another vehicle from the Volkswagen AG group that made an appearance at the movie was a previous generation Audi A6. The fact that the model used in the movie was not the current generation means that its use in the film goes almost unnoticeable.

The movie is not peppered by Volkswagen vehicles with identical logos and has a Volkswagen side marker assembly each but also features vehicles that has no connection whatsoever to the largest European automakers. A Lincoln Navigator made by the FoMoCo marque was used prominently in certain scenes of the movie. Even a Chevy Impala police car can be seen appearing in the movie as well as many Chrysler 300Ms. The placement of these vehicles made by the Big Three added to the anonymity of the Volkswagen vehicles used in the movie.

But while Volkswagen is subtle in the use of the Touareg 2 in the movie, it is less so in a site it launched recently. The new site is a stunt simulator that has the Touareg featuring prominently. This is where Volkswagen capitalized on their tie-up with the film. The site bournestuntsimulator.com allows visitors to create stunts of their own using the Touareg 2 as their vehicle of choice. They can create car chases and show them to the world.

As for the vehicle itself, it received positive reaction from the movie’s action vehicle supervisor Graham Kelly. He said: “This vehicle is indestructible. We filmed crash scenes for three weeks and the Touareg 2 kept going. This is one of the most incredible vehicles that I have ever driven.”

Source:  Amazines.com