The comedy series premieres Dec. 13.
NBC's new comedy, American Auto, is about to set the auto industry ablaze. Sort of.
Set in Detroit, the upcoming series -- from Superstore creator Justin Spitzer -- follows the corporate executives of Payne Motors who are at a crossroads: adapt to the changing times or be sent to the junkyard. Shaking things up is the new CEO (Ana Gasteyer), whose leadership, experience and savvy is offset by her complete lack of knowledge about cars. Luckily, her team has some of the best minds in the business -- when they aren’t fighting or trying to outwit each other.
ET exclusively debuts the official trailer for American Auto, where Gasteyer's Katherine Hastings shows just how unknowledgeable she is about the car industry, even though she's leading a huge auto corporation. Ironic much? "Oh, that's my Uber," she says when she gets a ping on her phone. "I don't know to drive."
When Payne employees detail their latest model, a fancy self-driving car, it quickly becomes apparent that there are some major issues with it. Like, the fact that it doesn't brake when it's supposed to or that it can't recognize skin tones. Yes, this is going to be a huge problem.
And as the executive team brainstorms over the car's name, additional features that can potentially up its market value and establish the interoffice dynamics, you get the sense that Payne is full of unique-minded personalities with very big perspectives. Watch the exclusive trailer of American Auto above.
“After six years of Superstore, a show about working-class people struggling to make ends meet while being squeezed by corporate America, I wanted to write about the people doing the squeezing: the executives at the decision center of a corporation, in a world of high-rise offices and private jets," creator and showrunner Justin Spitzer exclusively tells ET. "This isn’t a show about greedy, amoral capitalists, it’s about a group of people doing their best to keep their company afloat in a rapidly changing world. We’ve put together a truly talented ensemble to portray these characters who aren’t always nice, but try at least to be good. Usually.”
Harriet Dyer, Jon Barinholtz, Humphrey Ker, Michael B. Washington, Tye White and X Mayo also star.
American Auto premieres with back-to-back episodes Monday, Dec. 13 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
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