LEGO®

Belt up and brace yourself for a film in the fast lane. The animated car characters from Disney/Pixar are back – and this time they are moving up a few gears. They are being joined by the LEGO Group which has upgraded the smiling car characters from the first Cars film from DUPLO products to regular LEGO® bricks.

In this video LEGO designer Maarten Simons talks on the challenges of making the characters from the movie come to life in LEGO versions.




The LEGO products associated with the new Cars 2 movie reflect the new story by adding something extra to the cars. In one edition, Mater, the humdrum tow truck, has been top tuned with missiles, and if the shopper buys the café from the cars’ home town, Radiator Springs, it comes with a built in slammer function, similar to that known from LEGO Racers.

There will be heaps of toys to go with the Cars 2 film. The animated cars are expected to become one of the toy markets most sought after licences in 2011. And for that reason the LEGO Group’s creative team has had to work extra hard to woo the consumer.

Pernille Pasgaard, LEGO marketing manager for the new Cars 2 products says:

“Boys really respond to the characters that were established in the first Cars film. We let them know they can build all the characters, and we’re also producing different versions of the main characters. And in addition to the characters we’re building some exciting scenes with cool details and functions.”

Bye stickers
She promises consumers a super building experience even with the smallest LEGO Cars sets. And if anyone is dismayed at the thought of lots of sticky labels to illustrate the details of the cars, Pernille Pasgaard can allay their fears:

“Children generally just don’t manage sticky labels very well. So we’ve made a point of producing as many decorated bricks as possible. This enhances the quality of the products. On the small cars all details are decoration,” she explains.

Big launch
Although Lightning McQueen and company first raced across screens back in 2006, the Cars have in no way been condemned to the scrapheap by their devoted consumers.

Pernille Pasgaard says, “Cars 2 is an important launch for the LEGO Group. Disney Pixar has already created a great buzz around the film, and there was huge excitement at the toy fair in New York earlier this year.”