Chevrolet has unveiled a life-size model of the Lego Batmobile that will be hitting cinema screens when "The Lego Batman Movie" premieres in the U.S. on February 10.
Built with help from Detroit Cody Rouge students and the First Lego league, the 17-foot long, 6.9-foot tall model is making its official debut at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit this week.
It's by no means the first time a movie tie-in car has made its debut at an auto show. Toyota has taken the wraps off not one, but two Spongebob Squarepants-inspired Siennas at recent LA Auto Shows.
Nissan chose the 2016 LA Auto Show to launch the Star Wars Rogue One edition Rogue SUV and at this year's Detroit show, Pixar unveiled a life-size model of the older, wiser Lightning McQueen ahead of his return to the screen in "Cars 3."
However, none of these cars were built from 344,187 Lego bricks. Even the all-terrain tires were formed from black Lego bricks and as a result each one weighs over 100lbs.
"To work on the Lego Batmobile with Warner Bros. is an absolute thrill for us at Chevy," said Paul Edwards, US vice president of Chevrolet Marketing. "Many of the themes in ‘The Lego Batman Movie,' like imagination, family and community, align perfectly with our Chevy brand values and add to the value of the partnership."
The build took 1,833 hours to complete and if the car had used a Lego rather than an aluminum supporting frame it could have been much longer.
But now that it's completed and has made its debut, the car is set to take a starring role in an upcoming Chevrolet media campaign.
And while 344,187 is a lot of Lego bricks, Chevrolet still has a very, very long way to go if it wants to break the record for the world's largest ever Lego structure.
Fittingly, that record is held by another carmaker -- Jaguar Land Rover. It constructed a 5.8 million-brick scale model of London's iconic Tower Bridge as part of the launch event for the fifth-generation Land Rover Discovery SUV in September 2016.
Most impressive of all is that the model was strong enough to support the weight of not one, but three Discovery vehicles.
