In Cars 2, Mater heads overseas to act as Lightning's crew chief in the first ever World Grand Prix, but inadvertently becomes involved in international espionage after being mistaken as a spy.

In Cars 3, Mater is a supporting character who stays behind in Radiator Springs while Lightning travels to the Rust-eze Racing Center, but gives advice to him on how to defeat Jackson Storm later in the film.

[2] Mater's driving skills include a claim to be "the world's best backwards driver," an ability inspired by Dean Walker, a Kansas Historic Route 66 Association president known in Riverton as "Crazy Legs Walker, the Ambassador of Crazy Feet on Route 66" for his ability to twist his feet backward and walk in reverse.

The Pixar production team met Walker during a nine day tour of Route 66 guided by historian Michael Wallis in 2001 and decided to include his ability in the film.

Wallis was keen for the production team to incorporate aspects of the people that they met on the trip into the car characters to make them more human.

"[4] The inspiration for the character was a 1951 International Harvester tow truck that was used to pull equipment from the lead mines of Galena and, following the release of the film, was parked outside the former Kan-O-Tex Service Station as a tourist attraction.

[5] Due to copyright reasons, Disney requested that the truck be renamed, so the owners decided to call it "Tow Tater".

[8] Lasseter entered into talks with Larry the Cable Guy after watching the Blue Collar Comedy Tour with co-director Joe Ranft and found his performance hilarious.

After a few days of being mostly ignored, Mater manages to talk Lightning into joining him for his favorite hobby "tractor tipping", which results in the pair narrowly escaping Frank, a large red combine harvester.

From there, the trio head out to Porto Corsa, Italy, where Mater receives his first task to infiltrate a secret meeting being held by the Lemons in order to find out who is the mastermind sabotaging the racecars in the World Grand Prix.

Mater learns that the Lemons intentionally made the alternative fuel Allinol defective to drive more profit into their oil business.

Mater immediately blows his cover, resulting in him, Finn and Holley being tied up and waiting to be crushed by the large gears inside Big Bentley.

After escaping Big Bentley, Finn and Holley go after Professor Zündapp while Mater rushes to Lightning's pit stall in the midst of the race to warn everyone about a bomb.

Mater enthusiastically attends Lightning McQueen's Piston Cup races in his pit stall, going as far as wearing over-the-top novelty hats to encourage his best friend.

Mater helps McQueen remember Doc Hudson's mentor and crew chief Smokey and he decides to locate him and ask for his advice.

After Mater reaches his salvage yard, he is frightened by a "lightning bug" (a tiny flying Volkswagen Beetle with bright headlights).

As he relaxes, a bright blue glow suddenly appears behind him and, thinking it is the Ghostlight, goes into a blind panic, racing around Radiator Springs until he is exhausted.

Mater reveals that he has an older sister and announces his decision to drive across the country to attend her wedding, but laments that he has not seen her in ages and is not looking forward to the trip.

During the trip, Lightning and Mater make stops at various events and landmarks across the country, including a dino park, a haunted hotel, a circus, and a movie production.

[18] In 2006, Hollywood automotive body customizer Eddie Paul created Lightning, Sally, and Mater as real-life vehicles brought by Mack on a 41-city Cars promotional tour.

[20] Steve Daly of Entertainment Weekly described Mater as the breakout star of Cars, commenting that "he steals every scene he's part of".

[25] Mater's prominent role in the plot of Cars 2 received an unfavourable review from A. O. Scott of The New York Times, who described him as Pixar's "redneck Jar-Jar Binks" and considered it a "calamitous" move.

He disliked his "exaggerated drawl" and thought that Mater is "dumb, excitable and puppy-dog loyal, his idiot-savant automotive expertise grounded in humble, blue-collar simplicity".

[26] Aly Semigran writing for Entertainment Weekly reflected on this and also questioned why he had been given top billing in the film despite being the "second banana" to Lightning McQueen, but felt that he would not ultimately be detrimental to the franchise.

[28] Todd Mccarthy of The Hollywood Reporter found Mater acceptable as a side character but quickly became tired of his "'Hee-Haw' routine" and "saddlesore witticisms".

[29] In his review of the film for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw thought it was strange that Mater had been chosen to take the lead and commented that although he is cast as the star, he "doesn't have really anything funny or interesting to say or do".

[31] By contrast, Matt Fowler writing for IGN thought it was the right decision to give Mater the lead role as he considered Lightning to be a "dry character".