The latest installment of the “Cars” movie franchise isn’t coming to theaters until June 2017, but thousands of journalists, auto industry people, car shoppers and gear heads will get a sneak peek at the film and more when they attend the 2017 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS).

NAIAS officials announced Wednesday that Pixar Animation Studios will participate in the 2017 auto show in Detroit. They’ll host a press conference on Sunday, January 8, 2017, including an early look at their upcoming summer film, “Cars 3” and the debut of a life-size version of one of the film’s stars.

“Having Pixar choose to join NAIAS and share an early sneak peek at their next film – from one of the most famous movie franchises in the studio’s storied history – is proof that Detroit is home to all facets of automotive, whether it’s fantasy or real-life,” said Sam Slaughter, 2017 NAIAS Chairman.

Along with its much-anticipated press conference, Pixar will create a special “Cars 3”-themed display on the show floor for the thousands of journalists and nearly a million individuals that will visit during the run of show.

“With every film that we make at Pixar, we do our best to create worlds and characters that ring true to our audiences,“ said “Cars 3” director Brian Fee. “A huge part of doing this successfully lies in the extensive research that we do on each film. ‘Cars 3’ is a love letter to racing and its roots, so we could not be more excited to be a part of the North American International Auto Show to share a little bit of our film with our fellow car enthusiasts.”

Pixar’s press conference will take place Sunday afternoon on Cobo Center’s main Atrium stage. That same afternoon, John Krafcik, CEO of Google’s Self-Driving Car Project will keynote the kickoff to AutoMobili-D.

2017 NAIAS Dates:

Press Preview – Monday-Tuesday, January 9-10, 2017

Industry Preview – Wednesday-Thursday, January 11-12, 2017

Charity Preview – Friday, January 13, 2017

Public Show – Saturday-Sunday, January 14-22, 2017

Save