Summary
Highlights
The Cars universe is filled with car-shaped equivalents of human institutions, animals, and even landscape features. Rather than a post-human world, the evidence suggests an alternate reality where all physical matter is designed in the shape of vehicles.
The 'Mater's Tall Tales' shorts feature impossible scenarios that are confirmed as canon within the franchise. Mater possesses the god-like ability to manifest these stories into reality, often pulling Lightning McQueen into events he has no memory of with the phrase 'You was there, too.'
Many continuity inconsistencies, such as Mater's shifting birthplace or changing landmarks like Carhenge, are explained by Mater's unintentional use of his reality-warping powers. This implies he may be the architect or god-like figure of his own universe.
The chaotic sequence of events that led Lightning McQueen to Radiator Springs in the first film suggests divine intervention. Mater's influence extends to the very structure of the world, potentially confirming him as the 'car god' who shaped everything into his own image.