Cars 2 was the first Pixar Cars film to feature espionage as a major plot element.
Released in 2011, Cars 2 combines international racing with a spy story. Mater is mistakenly treated as an undercover agent after meeting British intelligence operative Finn McMissile. He and Holley Shiftwell investigate a conspiracy involving the World Grand Prix and the alternative fuel Allinol.
The film expands the Cars setting beyond Radiator Springs and American stock-car racing. Its locations include Tokyo, Italy’s fictional Porto Corsa, and London. The structure draws on international spy-film conventions, including secret identities, surveillance, gadgets, and villains operating behind a public event.
John Lasseter and Brad Lewis directed Cars 2. It was Pixar’s twelfth feature film and the first sequel in the Cars series. Cars 3 later returned to a more direct racing and mentorship story centered on Lightning McQueen’s changing career.