The auto makers like Audi see this as a great way to promote their products (e.g., R8) and most of them have their own product placement firms. Oh, and a way to generate some cash. A lot of it. They keep fleets of cars available for movies to come.
So how much are we talking here? A few thousand? If the film in which they are in is successful, then sales of the featured cars are, well, pretty good. The movie “Transformers”, for example, used 65 vehicles, made $707 million worldwide and provided great promotion for General Motors.
Hyundai, has hired a product placement firm Davie Brown Entertainment to get its new Genesis into the movies. And we'll bet that Tata Motors is eyeing a few choice scripts to insert its newly acquired Jaguar and Land Rover brands.