If you want to talk to somebody about vehicular matters of any kind, you could do far worse than giving Pixar boss John Lasseter a bell.

“I read every car magazine every month. I love that,” enthuses the fanatic. “My father was a parts manager at a Chevrolet dealership. I’m a car guy.”

You don’t say. By 2004, Pixar Studios – for which Lasseter serves as chief creative officer – had just released The Incredibles, and was officially on a winning streak.

Two Toy Stories had convinced us to fall in love with plastic things, Monsters, Inc. had convinced us to fall in love with things that go bump in the night, and Finding Nemo had convinced us to fall head-over-fin in love with fish (they’re friends, not food).

With that unbeatable track record in place, Lasseter decided it was time to crack out his dream project - now he was going to make people fall in love with cars…