Cars 2 is the Pixar Cars movie set partly around international spy missions.
Released in 2011, Cars 2 follows Lightning McQueen as he enters an international racing event while Mater becomes involved in a secret intelligence operation. The story shifts the franchise from the small-town road setting of the first film toward action-comedy locations in Europe and Japan.
Mater is mistaken for an American agent and becomes connected with Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell. Their investigation concerns a plot involving a new alternative fuel and a group of villains. The film combines racing with spy-film conventions, including surveillance, disguises, gadgets, and international travel.
Cars 2 was directed by John Lasseter and Brad Lewis. It is the second feature film in the Cars series, following Cars in 2006 and preceding Cars 3 in 2017. The movie is sometimes remembered only as another racing sequel, but its defining structural change is the expanded spy-adventure storyline centered on Mater.