Miles Axlerod

**Sir Miles Axlerod** is the main antagonist of the 2011 film Cars 2.

## Background

### Personality

Axlerod presented himself to be friendly and well-meaning to other cars and invented Allinol as a way to help promote the usage of alternative fuel. However, it later turned out that Axlerod is actually a ruthless, greedy, deceptive, and manipulative criminal mastermind who wished for non-lemons to respect him and was willing to harm other cars in order to do so. He is even willing to commit murder in order to achieve his goals in becoming rich through his untapped oil reserves where he ordered the death of Lightning McQueen when the latter decided to use Allinol in the last race after the lemons had managed to successfully discredit Allinol. Axlerod also planted a bomb on Mater as a way to kill him after the tow truck discovered and started interfering with his plans.

Axlerod is also very intelligent, as shown when he made the plan to get rid of alternative fuel. Additionally, he can speak in a deeper, disguised voice that is hard to be descrambled, which would serve to deceive any potential spies. He also was able to come up with backup plans in case any first plans did not work. For example, he planted a bomb onto Mater in case the latter escaped from his bonds and would rush to save McQueen if the EMP emitter did not kill the race car.

Despite coming from a background where Axlerod was mocked and ridiculed for being a lemon, he has no known redeeming qualities as his anger and greed made him very evil and was willing to commit heinous crimes just to get revenge on those who laughed at him and all lemons.

Despite not being sadistic like Zündapp, Axlerod was cruel as he showed no remorse for the injuries the racers of the World Grand Prix received when their engines exploded by being hit by the EMP emitter. Axlerod was also shown to hate Mater where he blamed on an oil leak on Mater, planted a bomb on him just to kill him, and started acting cruel towards him when Mater was trying to expose him. It is possible Axlerod's hatred of Mater stems from the fact that Mater is a tow truck, possibly hinting that Axlerod did not get a lot of proper help and fixing from tow trucks in the past.

Axlerod also showed signs of overconfidence as he kept his identity as the lemons' mastermind hidden until Mater exposed him, shocking Axlerod. He also tried to maintain his cover of being the lemons' mastermind when confronted and cornered by Mater until he was forced to deactivate the bomb he planted on the tow truck just to save his own life. This also shows Axlerod is truly a coward and has no known care for anybody other than himself.

### Physical Appearance

Axlerod is painted dark green, with a roof that is black, and blue eyes. He is modelled after a Land Rover Defender 90, with chrome rims that do not turn like his tires, which have a texture that makes a repetition of a leaf-shaped motif. His rims also contain the words "REGEN R8," which means "Regenerate."

After he was thought to have converted himself into an electric car, he has a license plate that reads "ALT NRG", which makes up the words "alternative energy". He did not carry this license plate before the "conversion".

## Film Appearances

### Cars 2

Axlerod has been known by the world for trying to travel around without using a GPS, but in doing so, is thought to be dead when he runs out of fuel and comes into a rainforest. He eventually emerges more than a month later, using a fuel that is said to be made out of the natural elements. He is then reported to have sold his oil company, switched to an electric car, and invents a clean-burning fuel named Allinol. To try and get the world to use alternative energy, he creates the World Grand Prix. On Mel Dorado's show, he announces that after the World Grand Prix, everyone around the world should switch to alternative energy. One of the racers he had invited to take part in the World Grand Prix is Lightning McQueen, but they only heard that McQueen is taking a break after his latest Piston Cup season. Soon, Mater contacts the show to tell them that another one of the World Grand Prix racers, Francesco Bernoulli, should not insult McQueen, which gets Francesco and Mater into a conversation as Axlerod and Mel Dorado listen. McQueen immediately gets on the phone to deal with Francesco himself, and afterwards, Axlerod offers McQueen to take part in the World Grand Prix, to which McQueen agrees.

At the opening ceremony in Tokyo, one day before the first race, Axlerod goes on stage to introduce the World Grand Prix racers to the press. While Axlerod is introducing McQueen, Mater suddenly rushes to the fountain behind them, having eaten too much wasabi. Feeling embarrassed, McQueen tries to explain to Axlerod about Mater, but Axlerod seems glad, as he thanks Mater for calling into the Mel Dorado Show. However, Axlerod then notices some oil beneath him and Mater, which it is immediately thought that Mater had leaked oil (being the car equivalent of urinating). While McQueen scolds Mater and orders him to take care of himself, Axlerod gets a member of staff to clean the oil up. The first race starts as usual, but throughout the whole race, a couple of the racers get their engines blown, leading the press to believe that allinol might be the reason why. Axlerod dismisses this to the press, saying that his fuel would have nothing to do with it.

In Porto Corsa, where the second race is taking place, Axlerod speaks to the press to answer their questions about the safety of allinol. He informs them that scientists have been examining it and have proved that it is completely safe. However, throughout the race, a couple more of the racers' engines explode, which makes the fans believe once again that allinol is responsible and begin to go against it. It only gets worse when one of the racers, Shu Todoroki, skids after his engine explodes, causing a huge pile-up with most of the other racers. Hearing what had happened, Axlerod rushes to the press and informs that the last race in London will still be held, but will no longer require the racers to use allinol, having decided not to risk any more lives. However, McQueen decides to use allinol, not believing that that kind of crash would happen at all.

Just before the last race, Axlerod comes to the pits to thank McQueen for his decision, telling him to show everyone that allinol is safe. As the race starts, Axlerod stands outside Buckingham Palace with the Queen and Prince Wheeliam. The race turns out well, but soon everyone notices Mater going onto the track while McQueen chases him.

Later on, Mater arrives at Buckingham Palace to tell everyone that Axlerod is actually the head of a group of lemons, who had been responsible for sabotaging the racers by using an electromagnetic pulse generator, disguised as a camera, to make the allinol inside them explode, so to make the whole world think alternative fuel is unsafe and buy regular oil from their huge oil field. Mater also reveals that Axlerod was actually the one who leaked oil back in Tokyo, having blamed it on Mater, and he did not actually convert to an electric car.

Mater continues on by stating that Allinol was created as a cover to ruin alternative fuel so Axlerod could profit from cars going back to gasoline as well as stating Axlerod has an old engine with particular bolts and a disguised voice. Axlerod tries to convince the spectators all of these accusations were not true, but he eventually reveals his true self when he is forced to deactivate the counting down bomb that he and the lemons had put on Mater.

Afterwards, he is surrounded by police officers, as Mater opens his hood to reveal that he has the same engine shown in a photo that Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell had found. This display confirms Mater's theory and proves Axlerod was behind everything from the start as he questions how Mater figured it all out.

After Axlerod was arrested by the British Military, it turns out that he actually used gasoline to make allinol and change it so that it would blow up when coming into contact with an electromagnetic pulse.

**Films:** Cars | Cars 2 | Cars 3
**Short Films:** Mater and the Ghostlight | Miss Fritter's Racing Skoool | Unparalleled Parking | Dancing with the Cars
**Television:** Cars Toons | Cars on the Road
**Books:** Disney's Wonderful World of Reading
**Locations:** Radiator Springs