response: Well, it turns out John Lasseter actually met with GM to make McQueen and some other cars Corvettes, but they ended up being made generic race cars.
original_response: During original research they actually met with General Motors to discuss the corvette design!
history: Do you know Lightning McQueen from the Cars movie. I really liked that character. Yes, I do. Did you know that he's not named after Steve McQueen, but Glenn McQueen, who was an animator at Pixar? Oh I didn't know who it was named after. I also liked Mater from that movie. He was the tow truck. I see, getting back to Lightning McQueen, he's been in several movies and shows, and a few TV shorts. Have you seen them all? No, but I probably will. Pixar really makes good movies. Do you know what kind of car Lightning McQueen is? Sort of. It's hinted in a scene where he's resroting Radiator Springs that he's a type of Corvette. Oh, I see. Yeah, McQueen was the hero of the movie, along with his friends. I never saw Cars 2 but I heard it was good as well. Oh there are three, Cars1, Cars 2(2011) and Cars 3 (2017) Wow, I am way behind. I guess they are very popular with kids. I hope there are more!
knowledge: During the initial research for the first film, John Lasseter met with General Motors designers to discuss the new Corvette design but subsequent changes to the storyline left both Lightning McQueen and rivals Chick Hicks (''Cars'') and Bobby Swift, Brick Yardley, Cal Weathers and Jackson Storm (''Cars 3'') as generic.