What fictional California town is the setting of Pixar’s Cars?

Radiator Springs is the fictional California town that serves as the main setting of Pixar’s Cars.

Lightning McQueen reaches Radiator Springs after becoming separated from his transport truck on the way to a race. He accidentally damages the town’s main road and is ordered to repair it. That punishment keeps him there long enough to meet the local residents and learn the town’s story.

The setting was inspired by real places along historic U.S. Route 66. Its businesses and landmarks reflect the roadside communities that lost traffic when interstate highways diverted travelers. The film turns that history into a story about a once-busy town whose connections and memories still matter.

Radiator Springs includes the Cozy Cone Motel, Flo’s V8 Cafe, Luigi’s Casa Della Tires, and the courthouse. The town is also important thematically: it changes from a place Lightning wants to leave into a community he chooses to support.