Those attending the 2017 Detroit auto show may be disappointed to find there are no exhibits by Bentley, Ferrari, Maserati, Mini, Porsche, Rolls-Royce, or Tesla. But among the exhibitors filling the spaces those brands once occupied, they will find a familiar friend poised on the main floor: Lightning McQueen, the lead character of the Disney/Pixar Cars franchise, is taking a turn on the auto-show turntable, wearing a fresh paint job to promote the June release of the third installment, Cars 3.
The show car, which has toured concours and car shows for years in paint schemes resembling those featured in the first two movies, is the only one at Pixar?s stand on the auto show’s main floor. It’s hardly the first time the Detroit show has displayed an imaginary creation that you?ll never encounter in traffic, but in the show?s opening press conference, Pixar Animation Studios chief creative officer John Lasseter did call his creation ?the first autonomous car; he drives himself.? (Although Herbie the Love Bug might object to that characterization.) Lasseter noted that research for the original Cars movie started at the Detroit show in 2001 and that the promotional work for the completed film really kicked off at the same auto show in 2006, the year it was released. Eleven years later, in Cars 3, the Lightning McQueen character has evolved from hotshot rookie to seasoned racing veteran struggling to fend off a pack of young challengers led by a new character, Jacks...