Sir Miles Axlerod is the main but hidden antagonist in the Cars series that first appeared in Cars 2. He was a rich oil baron, before his arrest in London for destroying the climax of the World Grand Prix, his own scam of an event.
Early concepts of Cars 2 had considered a Russian super car as the main villain instead of Miles. Axlerod's name apparently originated from an old joke his voice actor Eddie Izzard once told concerning the invention of the wheel and axle.
The DVD commentary for Cars 2 states that the climax where Mater confronts Axlerod at Buckingham Palace over the plot to sabotage the World Grand Prix came rather early in production, so the Pixar team worked backwards from there to make Axlerod the ultimate good guy and someone else the bad guy, so that when it got up to the climax, everyone could see how brilliant Mater was in figuring out the whole thing.
History
Cars 2
Miles Axlerod in Cars 2.
Though at first Professor Zündapp appears to be the main villain in Cars 2, it is revealed near the end of the film by Mater that Axlerod is actually the villain. His supposed "alternative fuel" was actually gasoline engineered to expand and eventually explode if hit with an electromagnetic pulse, and was part of a plot to turn the world against alternative energy and have them rely on gasoline, bringing profits to the lemons and himself due to the fact that they own the largest untapped oil reserves in the world. At a party promoting the World Grand Prix, he leaks oil on the floor, proving that he isn't an electric car; he blamed it on Mater to cover it up.
Axlerod is confronted by Mater.
Eventually, Axlerod arranges for Zündapp and the lemon cars to plant a bomb on Mater's air filter as a backup plan to kill Lightning McQueen. Mater later discovers the story about the conspiracy after helping Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell arrest Zündapp and the lemon cars, and confronts Axlerod for it, and his suspicions are confirmed when he forces Axlerod into deactivating the bomb with a voice command in order to keep the bomb from killing himself since he would have been caught in the blast. To proceed further, Mater opens Axlerod's hood, revealing the same engine (a Rover V8) as the unseen mastermind depicted in the photo, which Finn and Holley obtained from their American counterpart earlier, proving to be a perfect match. It is not told what happened to Axlerod after having his plot exposed. But it can be implied that in the end of the movie, he gets arrested on the charges of conspiracy to commit crime, murder and embezzlement, since he is last seen being surrounded by several police cars.
Cars 2: The Video Game
In Cars 2: The Video Game, Miles is an unlockable playable character, available once access to Clearance Level 5 is granted. He is a heavy weight character that utilizes power more than speed.
General information
Physical description
Cars 2 Turntable "Miles Axlerod"
Turntable video of Miles
Miles' design resembles an extremely modified version of a Range Rover L322. His license plate reads "ALT NRG", an abbreviation of "alternative energy". However, before his "electric conversion" (ultimately a lie), he does not appear to have a license plate at all. He is painted dark green, with a grey and black roof.
Personality and traits
Charming as he seems, Miles is a villain. He is evil, greedy, deceptive and manipulative. Miles is also clearly a smart thinker, as he had thought the entire plan to get rid of Allinol through, as he set everything up to make him look like an innocent car. At the end, he was proven to be the villain.
"Axlerod is a former oil baron who has sold off his fortune, converted himself into an electric vehicle and has devoted his life to finding the renewable, clean-burning energy source of the future — ultimately discovering what he believes is the fuel everyone should be using. Axlerod is also the host of the World Grand Prix, a three-country race he created that attracts the world’s top athletes to promote his new clean burning fuel, Allinol."
Cars 2: The Video Game
Bios
"After selling off his fortune and converting himself to an electric vehicle, Miles Axlerod can't help but draw attention. Now he's created the World Grand Prix, a three country race to highlight ALLINOL, his fantastic renewable wonder-fuel."
"I just wanted to come down here, and to personally thank you. Because after Italy, I was finished, and then you gave me one last shot." - Cars 2
"I probably shouldn't be saying this at all, but I hope you win today. You show the world that they've been wrong about Allinol." - Cars 2
"Deactivate!" - Cars 2
"How did the tow truck figure it out?" - Cars 2
Names in other languages
Language
Name
Meaning
Ukrainian
Майлз Баксельрод
Buckslerod - Bucks is slang term for dollar, which is likely a reference to how he is rich.
Norwegian
Nils Akseltrykk
Aksel, means axel, and trykk, actually means preassure, and would possibly be said as Axel-pressure. Nils might be a reference to a Norwegian way of saying the name Miles.
Hungarian
Miles Benzington
Benzington is a reference to "benzin", which means petrol.
Russian
Майлс
Карданвал
Miles Cardan
Trivia
Miles' tires' texture repeats a leaf-shaped motif.
If you look closely at his front wheels, you can see the words 'REGEN R8' meaning 'Regenerate'.
Miles uses a lot of parts made by "British Wheeland" to keep himself going. "British Wheeland" is a parody of British Leyland, which produced both the Range Rover and the notoriously unstable V-8 engine that powered them. Even the logo was a parody of British Leyland's, using a big bold printed W instead of the big bold
Miles emerging from the jungle from Up
printed L. Mater states truthfully that B.L. made parts that won't fit on other cars because of them not using standardized bolts.
The jungle Miles gets lost in before he converts to an electric vehicle is the jungle from Up.
Axlerod's personality is very similar to that of Waternoose (one of the main antagonists from Monsters, Inc.): both are portrayed as evil businessmen who are originally introduced as being friendly, both rely on deception as part of their motivations and both are ultimately defeated by being exposed by the heroes as villains and being subsequently arrested.
Unwelcome Aboard • In Plane Sight • Fast Friends • Airport Invasion • There's No Place Like Chrome • Oil Rig Showdown • Hit the Road • World Grand Prix • Runway Invasion • Porto Corsa Invasion • Objects in Mirror • Airport Showdown • Burning the Midnight Oil • Coastal Invasion • Runway Runaway • Harbor Hassle • Power Surge • London Showdown • Foe Interior • Hit or McMissile • Unfriendly Competition • Air Power • Rush Delivery • Italy Showdown • Tokyo Invasion • Save the Queen • Sour Lemons • Lightning the Mood • Home Security • Tokyo Showdown
