The cars of Transformers 3

With the release of Transformers: Dark of the Moon into cinemas this week, movie-goers and car fans alike once again get to see a wide array of vehicles morphing into giant war robots and destroying each other on the big screen. Autoviva has decided to take a closer at which cars have reprised their roles as Autobots and Decepticons – some of which have received a few updates – as well as some of the shiny new additions to the warring factions.

Let’s begin with the Autobots (the good guys for those who don’t know):

The Autobot’s fearless leader, Optimus Prime, returns almost entirely unchanged as a blue Peterbilt 379 truck with a flame livery. However he has gained an extra trailer to his rig which allows for a third transformation mode.

Protagonist Sam Witwicky’s guardian Bumblebee is also back as a fifth-gen Chevrolet Camaro, this time with a new paint job and body kit. As Autoviva reported earlier in the week, Chevrolet is releasing a special edition replica of this car for fans to purchase.    

New addition to the series, Sentinel Prime (voiced by Leonard Nimoy), is Optimus’ direct predecessor and mentor and appears a Rosenbauer Panther fire truck.

Trusty Autobot grunts Ironhide and Ratchet make their respective returns as a GMC Topkick and a search and rescue Hummer H2, with Ratchet now being painted in green and white. Sideswipe also returns, this time as a Chevrolet Corvette Stingray convertible instead of the hardtop concept from Revenge of the Fallen.

Car fans should be delighted to see a Ferrari 458 Italia in the film, which takes the form of Autobot spy Dino. A Blue Mercedes-Benz W212 is also featured as the Autobot scientist Que.

Finally, a new Autobot ‘wrecking crew’ appear in the film in the form of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chevrolet Impala stock cars equipped with machine guns. They are Leadfoot (a Juan Pablo Montoya #42 Target car), Roadbuster (a Dale Earnhardt, Jr. #88 AMP Energy/National Guard car) and Topspin (a Jimmie Johnson #48 Lowe’s/Kobalt car).

Now for the bad guys, the Decepticons:

Their leader, Megatron, has a new vehicle form as an armoured Mack Titan 10-wheeler fuel tank truck. However Shockwave is now the film’s primary villain and transforms into a Cybertronian self-propelled tank.

Back to real cars and communications officer Soundwave, who now transforms into a silver Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, another vehicle choice which should also please petrol heads.

Lastly there are the Dreads; Crankcase, Crowbar and Hatchet who take the form of Chevrolet Suburban emergency vehicles.   

Transformers: Dark of the Moon  is currently playing in cinemas worldwide in regular 2D, Real D 3D and IMAX, and featuring Dolby Surround 7.1 sound.