Car films can be hit or miss. From Cannonball Run to the Fast and the Furious franchise, fun with cars on screen may or more likely may not be as realistic as Steve McQueen’s Le Mans, much less real world racing. Even still, cars on film are usually a fun way to spend some screen time, so when Audi China hooked up with Han Han to star an Audi A3 Sportback as a rally car for the new movie Pegasus 3, they caught the attention of this website.
Worth noting, this is a Chinese market movie so you’re unlikely to see it in western distribution. However, the film opened in China to a reported 700 million yuan on its first day during the Lunar New Year holiday, immediately leading the box office. More interesting for enthusiasts watching the brand, however, is the role played by FAW-Audi as the film’s “Chief Life Racing Officer” and the decision to spotlight the FAW-Audi A3 as the foundation for the movie’s rally car hero.
For a brand sometimes criticized for dialing back overt enthusiast marketing in certain markets, this kind of youth-oriented motorsport placement represents a refreshing shift and a trend we seem to see as Audi arrives in Formula 1 and a new RS 5 drops in Germany.
RALLY CAR ROOTED IN THE A3
At the center of Pegasus 3 is the fictional “Muchen 100 Rally,” a high-altitude intercontinental race staged at more than 4,500 meters above sea level. The terrain is brutal, the weather unpredictable, and the stakes cinematic.
The protagonist, Zhang Chi, and his team campaign a rally machine based on the FAW-Audi A3. On screen, the car is reworked to international rally specifications. The livery is unmistakably Audi Sport: red, black and gray with prominent red rhombus.
It’s an interesting choice. Though not the higher-performance RS 3, the more attainable A3 has long served as Audi’s entry point for younger buyers. Positioning it as the base for a big-screen rally entry reframes the compact sedan as something aspirational and with performance appeal rather than merely practical. That’s likely appealing to a new generation of Chinese enthusiasts who find themselves drawn to the film.
80S ENERGY MODERN STRATEGY
The official poster for Pegasus 3 leans heavily into bold typography, saturated color and an ensemble cast composition that feels like a throwback to 1980s adventure-comedy racing films. Think along the lines of The Cannonball Run — high energy, slightly tongue-in-cheek, built around speed and personality as much as competition.
That aesthetic seems to position the film not as a dry motorsport drama like McQueen’s Le Mans but as a youth-friendly celebration of racing culture. Audi’s alignment with that tone in this case suggests a willingness to connect emotionally rather than purely technically. And, given it’s a racing movie, the car serves almost as a character rather than more of a prop in the background like the Q8 e-tron in Tron: Ares.
ONLINE & OFFLINE FULL COURT PRESS
FAW-Audi didn’t stop at product placement. The company launched a coordinated online and offline campaign around the film’s release:
- Roadshows in Beijing and Shanghai with film merchandise and interactive brand experiences
- An Audi owner cinema event in Shanghai under the theme “Let’s Unfold the Road!”
- A Douyin (China’s TikTok) campaign inviting users to generate custom movie-style posters featuring themselves and the Audi A3
- A themed creative video for the new Audi Q5L, blending family life with rally-inspired storytelling
The Q5L tie-in is strategic. While the A3 carries the youthful performance narrative on screen, the Q5L reinforces Audi’s bread-and-butter premium SUV positioning off screen. It’s brand theater and grounded in product.
RACING DNA REMIXED FOR A NEW GENERATION OF ENTHUSIASTS
The press materials make reference to Audi’s competition heritage: early 1980s quattro dominance in rallying, endurance racing success at Le Mans, DTM touring car championships and more recently, Dakar efforts with the RS Q e-tron.
That lineage needs no introduction here. From the original World Rally Championship campaigns to repeated victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Audi has historically used motorsport both as laboratory and marketing engine.
What’s different in China is the medium. Instead of leveraging a live race weekend, Audi is leveraging cinema — wrapping its racing narrative inside a mass-market holiday film event.
SHOULD YOU CARE?
Will Pegasus 3 ever see meaningful Western distribution? Unlikely.
Does that diminish its significance? Not at all.
China remains one of Audi’s most critical markets, and brand building there increasingly requires cultural integration rather than simple badge recognition. As Chinese buyers shift more towards domestic brands, Audi needs to remind them why it’s a credible import they want to own. Embedding the A3 in a rally narrative aimed squarely at younger audiences signals that Audi China understands this shift.
And, China’s not alone. Here in America where sales have been lagging, Audi needs to show similar initiative in firing up the passion of its owners lest it become just another commodity appliance in their lives. For those of us who care about how Audi communicates its performance heritage, it’s encouraging to see the four rings presented not as a generic luxury marque but as a brand with motorsport roots and relevance to a younger audience.
PHOTO GALLERY
