BMW's Super Bowl 60 Seconds For i3 EV

BMW re-joins the Super Bowl advertising family with a 60-second spot for its i3 all-electric vehicle. By buying space on one of the world’s biggest advertising platforms for as much as $9 million, the German luxury-car leader is trying to gain more ground on Tesla and the vaunted reputation of its Model S all-electric car.

This could be a savvy move for BMW. In general, for a variety of reasons, automakers aren’t flocking to Super Bowl advertising as they did during the last few years; just Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Toyota so far have confirmed they’re buying commercial time during the Big Game on February 1 on ABC. In 2014, by contrast, there were 11 different nameplates in the Super Bowl, and Kantar Media said that the category accounted for over one-fourth of the total ad time in the game.

In particular, BMW rival Audi — whose commercials tended to be favorites during the last few Super Bowls — has been silent about its intentions for Super Bowl XLIX, probably indicating it’s sitting this one out.

“Big ideas like the BMW i3 take a little getting used to, and the creative idea surrounding our spot will play on this analogy,” said Trudy Hardy, vice president of marketing for BMW of North America, in a press release. “We are thrilled to use this platform to educate viewers on the importance of electric mobility.

The car, with a starting sticker price of $43,350, is available in the U.S. already. The i3 is the first of the BMW i vehicles constructed from the ground up mainly of carbon fiber.

This is BMW’s first Super Bowl ad since 2011, when it aired two spots, “Defy Logic” and “Changes.”