• CarConnection.com, Friday, April 4, 2008 10:15 AM

Volkswagen is rolling out a new ad campaign this month tagged simply "Das Auto" ("The Car") as the German automaker tries to leverage its place as a pop-culture icon and reinvigorate sagging U.S. sales. The star of the effort is Max, a talking 1964 black Beetle that converses with celebs like Heidi Klum, David Hasselhoff, Leonard Nimoy and Bobby Knight about "what people want."

For Tim Ellis, vice president of marketing at Volkswagen of America, "Max personifies Volkswagen's past, present and vision for the future. Through him, we will reconnect with American consumers and let them know how Volkswagen understands and responds to what the people want."

Ads are set for TV and online throughout April and will highlight the model launches of new VWs coming to the market this year, including the Tiguan, Routan, Jetta TDI and SportsWagen.

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