Pixar's original Cars film was released in the United Kingdom in 2006.
The film opened in the United States on June 9, 2006, and reached other markets during the same year. It follows Lightning McQueen, a self-centered rookie race car who becomes stranded in Radiator Springs while traveling to California.
Cars was Pixar's seventh feature film and became one of the studio's major merchandising successes. Its world combines fictional talking vehicles with visual references to American roads, classic cars, and historic Route 66 communities.
The year is sometimes confused with 2005 because Pixar announced and promoted the project before its theatrical release. Cars 2 followed in 2011, and Cars 3 followed in 2017, creating the feature-film trilogy.