'CARS' Lightning McQueen Reported to Have $1.5 Million Blue Book Value

'CARS' Lightning McQueen Reported to Have $1.5 Million Blue Book Value

Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com Launches Exclusive Content and Reviews of Vehicles From Forthcoming Movie 'CARS'

IRVINE, Calif., May 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Kelley Blue Book (www.kbb.com), America's most trusted resource for new- and used-vehicle information, today launches the most up-to-date 'Blue Book' values and long-awaited expert reviews on the hottest "CARS" on the silver-screen -- the cars of "CARS," the Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios feature to be released June 9. In addition to unique and exclusive content for "CARS" movie fans, Kelley Blue Book and kbb.com offers site visitors a chance to win tickets to an advance screening of the highly-anticipated automotive flick.*

As Kelley Blue Book prides itself on providing the most up-to-date pricing and values for new and used vehicles, the site today launches values for a few sought-after vehicles destined to be collector cars. The editors of kbb.com report significant increases to some high-profile vehicles, including "CARS'" Lightning McQueen, Mater and others.

"We were impressed by Lightning McQueen's 200-mile-per-hour top speed, and his remarkably quick 4.5-second zero to 60 mile-per-hour time," said Jack R. Nerad, executive editorial director and market analyst at kbb.com. "With those specifications and the demand we are seeing in the marketplace, this speedster's value is the most expensive in the history of the Kelley Blue Book Official Guide(R)."

The company's famous guide book first produced in 1926, and its 10-year-old Web site kbb.com, also report that today marks the first time ever that the Blue Book has placed a value on a tow truck.

"Tow-Mater, as this specific tow truck likes to be called, was difficult to place a value on without a pink slip or any appropriate badging, but its value has been enhanced due to its low-volume, hard-to-find model status," said Nerad.

For a full-feature review of each of the main characters from the movie, their current Blue Book values, as well as movie trailers and other unique content, visit www.kbb.com. *For sweepstakes details and rules regarding the Kelley Blue Book advance screening of the movie "CARS," please visit www.kbb.com.

Cars Movie

After taking moviegoers magically into the realm of toys, bugs, monsters, fish, and superheroes, the masterful storytellers and technical wizards at Pixar Animation Studios ("The Incredibles," "Finding Nemo," "Monsters, Inc."), and Academy Award(R)-winning director John Lasseter ("Toy Story," "Toy Story 2," "A Bug's Life"), hit the road with a fast-paced comedy adventure set inside the world of cars. A Walt Disney Pictures presentation of a Pixar Animation Studios film, "CARS" is a high octane delight for moviegoers of all ages, fueled with plenty of humor, action, heartfelt drama, and amazing new technical feats.

Lightning McQueen (voice of OWEN WILSON), a hotshot rookie race car driven to succeed, discovers that life is about the journey, not the finish line, when he finds himself unexpectedly detoured in the sleepy Route 66 town of Radiator Springs. On route across the country to the big Piston Cup Championship in California to compete against two seasoned pros, McQueen gets to know the town's offbeat characters -- including Doc Hudson (a 1951 Hudson Hornet with a mysterious past, voiced by PAUL NEWMAN), Sally (a snazzy 2002 Porsche voiced by BONNIE HUNT), and Mater (a rusty but trusty tow truck voiced by LARRY THE CABLE GUY) -- who help him realize that there are more important things than trophies, fame and sponsorship.

The all-star vocal cast also includes free-wheeling performances by Tony Shalhoub, Michael Keaton, Cheech Marin, George Carlin, Katherine Helmond, and John Ratzenberger. Delivering more fun and authenticity to the cast for "CARS" are vocal performances from some of the all-time greatest names from the racing world including the legendary Richard Petty, plus "drive-on" roles by Mario Andretti, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Darrell Waltrip (who holds the record for five-wins at the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600), and Michael Schumacher, the ace German Formula 1 racing legend, who is a seven-times world champion, and is widely considered to be the best Grand Prix racing driver of all-time.

About Pixar Animation Studios

Pixar Animation Studios (http://www.pixar.com/) combines creative and technical artistry to create original stories in the medium of computer animation. Pixar has created six of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time: "Toy Story," "A Bug's Life," "Toy Story 2," "Monsters, Inc.," "Finding Nemo" and "The Incredibles." Pixar has won 20 Academy Awards(R) and its six films have grossed more than $3.2 billion at the worldwide box office to date. The Northern California studio's next two film releases are "CARS" (June 9, 2006) and "Ratatouille" (summer 2007).

About Kelley Blue Book (kbb.com)

Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com is America's most used and trusted vehicle pricing, values and information resource. The top-rated Web site provides the most up-to-date pricing and values for thousands of new and used vehicles, including the New Car Blue Book(R) value, which reveals what people actually are paying for new cars. Since 1926, car buyers and sellers have relied upon Kelley Blue Book for authoritative and unbiased information to make well-informed automotive decisions. The company also reports vehicle prices and values via products and services, including the famous Blue Book(R) Official Guide and software products. Kbb.com also has been named the No. 1 automotive information site by Nielsen//NetRatings and J.D. Power and Associates seven years in a row. No other medium reaches more in-market vehicle shoppers than kbb.com; one in every three American car buyers complete their research on kbb.com.

Source: Kelley Blue Book

CONTACT: Robyn Eckard, +1-949-268-3049, reckard@kbb.com, or Joanna
McNally, +1-949-268-3079, jmcnally@kbb.com, both of Kelley Blue Book

Web site: http://www.kbb.com/
http://www.pixar.com/

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