Chevrolet has spent decades building real cars. For D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, however, it decided to let two of them join the ‘Pixar Universe’. A 2026 Chevrolet Colorado and 2027 Chevrolet Bolt appeared at Disney’s flagship fan event wearing designs inspired by Ramone and Flo from Disney and Pixar’s Cars franchise.
Ramone And Flo Get A Chevrolet Makeover
Disney Jr/YouTube
The Colorado was transformed into Ramone, a fitting choice given the character’s own Chevrolet connection. Pixar describes Ramone as a 1959 Impala low-rider and the owner of Radiator Springs’ custom body and paint shop.
The Bolt – on the other hand – became Flo, a 1950s-inspired show car and the manager of Flo’s V-8 Café. GM says the character was inspired in part by the 1951 Buick XP-300. The two vehicles appeared at Chevrolet’s branded booth during D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, which also coincided with the 20th anniversary of Cars.
The Colorado Was The Harder One To Wrap
The two transformations weren’t equally challenging. GM says the Bolt’s continuous-color design permitted the wrap to be divided into panels according to the areas being covered. The same process for the Colorado’s gradient-heavy graphics required more careful planning, with even the door handles receiving separate printed panels.
The materials are different as well. The Bolt used a conventional wrap film, while the Colorado received a silver metallic specialty film designed to mimic paint with metallic flake. Overall, the application of both wraps required about a week’s time.
Why One Was Gas And The Other Was Electric
The Colorado and Bolt weren’t selected randomly. GM intentionally used one internal combustion vehicle and one EV to reflect its current strategy of continuing to offer gasoline-powered vehicles while expanding its electric lineup.
That said, there was another challenge: making the vehicles look like Ramone and Flo without completely hiding the Colorado and Bolt underneath. GM says the goal was to keep the characters recognizable while allowing the underlying vehicle designs and sheet metal to remain visible. The result is less of a literal recreation and more of a real-world interpretation of two animated cars.
A Long Relationship Between GM And Disney
The Cars anniversary provided the immediate reason for the project, but GM and Disney have worked together for decades. Their relationship goes back to GM’s World of Motion attraction, which opened at EPCOT in 1982.
General Motors
GM is still the official vehicle sponsor of Walt Disney World Resort and the presenting sponsor of Test Track, making the D23 display another chapter in a much longer relationship between the two companies.
Neither vehicle is headed for production as a Cars-themed special edition. They were created for the D23 display. Still, turning a Colorado into a cartoon low-rider and a Bolt into the character who runs Radiator Springs’ V-8 Café is about as far from a conventional auto-show display as Chevrolet can get.
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