Super Bowl ad takes a dig at Elon Musk, Volkswagen. Tesla chief's response

Super Bowl 2022: Elon Musk responded to the Polestar ad with an emoji.

Electric vehicle start-up Polestar on Sunday took a jibe at Tesla chief Elon Musk as it made its debut in the much-sought-after Super Bowl advertisement space.

The 30-second ad shows several lines on the screen, directed at legacy automakers. “No epic voice overs, no punchlines, no dieselgate, no dirty secrets, no hidden agenda,” the ad goes on.

“No conquering Mars,” Polestar claims in the ad, in its obvious dig at Elon Musk who has often spoken about his dream of building cities on Mars.

The billionaire, who is also the founder of SpaceX, responded to the ad with a laughing emoji.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 14, 2022

Polestar’s “no dieselgate” is aimed at Volkswagen. The scandal known as “Dieselgate" erupted in 2015 when the US Environmental Protection Agency found that Volkswagen had installed special software to rig US emissions tests for its latest “clean diesel” vehicles. The German car manufacturer admitted to fitting millions of cars with the device and it turned out that the use of the cheating software had not been isolated to the US. In Europe, it had argued that the software could be justified by the fact that it helps protect the engine over time.

The Super Bowl ads this year are heavy on nostalgia and star power. With ad space going for as much as $7 million for 30 seconds, it's crucial for Super Bowl advertisers to both get noticed and be entertaining.

Read: Super Bowl 2022 ads bank on stars and nostalgia. Our top 8 picks

Automakers are back in full force this Super Bowl, with BMW showing Arnold Schwarzenegger as Zeus, the Greek god of the sky (or in this commercial, the god of lightning) whose wife, Salma Hayek Pinault, gives him the EV BMW iX to spice up retirement.

Kia showcases the Kia EV6, the brand’s first battery electric vehicle, in its ad, along with a cute robo dog. Nissan gives a nod to its all-electric 2023 Nissan Ariya.