Cars 2 was the first Pixar Cars film to feature Mater as a major co-lead in an international spy story.
The 2011 sequel shifts much of its focus from Lightning McQueen’s racing career to Mater’s accidental involvement with secret agents. Mater travels with McQueen to the World Grand Prix and is mistaken for an American spy by Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell.
This structure makes Mater central to the film’s action, comedy, and mystery. The plot includes races in Tokyo, Porto Corsa, and London, as well as a conspiracy involving an alternative fuel called Allinol. The sequel therefore expands the Cars setting from Radiator Springs and American stock-car racing into a globe-spanning adventure.
Mater appears in the original Cars film, but his role there is primarily McQueen’s friend and comic companion. Cars 3 returns the emphasis to McQueen’s racing and mentorship. Cars on the Road is a later television series, not a feature film.