America’s Super Bowl ad breaks are the most expensive in the world.

Superbowl auto ads reflect industry slump.

AT $4 million per 30-second spot – that’s about $130,000 per second — America’s Super Bowl ad breaks are the most expensive in the world.

But with an audience of around a billion – half of whom are estimated to tune in for the commercials rather than the final action of the football season — they’re also the most-watched ads for a single screening.

Advertisers vie to make a splash with novel and exciting spots, and car manufacturers have been among some of the best over the years.

But the 2009 Super Bowl was yet another sign of how far the industry has slumped, with few car companies showing, and none of them the US Big Three who usually dominate.

Audi took advantage of the release of Transporter3 to show a Jason Statham chase scene, Toyota’s Venza linked cutting-edge design to a mundane-looking SUV, but their Killer Heat spot showed a Tundra towing a load up a flaming corkscrew ramp. (See below for more Super Bowl ads).

Korea’s Hyundai had five commercials, the most entertaining one showing rival carmakers from Germany and Japan venting their anger at the Hyundai Genesis sedan being named US Car of the Year.

But possibly of more interest these days was Hyundai’s `Contract’ ad, promising Americans that if they bought a new `Hunday’ and then sadly lost their income in the next year, they could return it with no impact on their credit.

The only other automotive-related brand was Bridgestone tyres, which screened two commercials – an animated Mr and Mrs Potato Head, and a `moonwalk’.

If the lunar one might possibly annoy viewers who don’t warm to dance music, the potato one is probably set to inflame a few feminists, with Mr Potato Head’s joy when his spouse’s mouth falls off after a sharp corner.