Get an early look at NBC sitcom set inside corporate ranks of struggling Detroit automaker

The Detroit-set Payne Motors company is preparing to introduce its self-driving car, the Ponderosa, to the press when the new CEO expresses some doubts.

“The name Ponderosa, do we like it? … To me it sounds, like, ponderous. Like dull, you know? Like a dull ponderous car,” says the corporate leader played by “Saturday Night Live” alum Ana Gasteyer.

“It comes from the Ponderosa pine tree,” explains her communications chief, portrayed by actress Harriet Dyer.

Gasteyer isn’t convinced. “Do people want to drive a tree?”

Fasten your seat belts, Motor City. You can watch a sneak peek of “American Auto” at 10 p.m. Monday, when the network airs the pilot and second episode of the sitcom, which is set inside the corporate ranks of a fictional 100-year-old automaker.

“American Auto” was created by Justin Spitzer, whose wonderfully weird and warm NBC comedy “Superstore” ran for six seasons and ended its series run in March.

This time, instead of exploring the plight of hourly workers at a Target-esque store, Spitzer turns his attention to the white-collar side of Payne Motors, which seems to have all of the issues of a mid-1970s Chevy Vega.

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According to NBC’s description of the show, Payne Motors must “adapt to the changing times or be sent to the junkyard.” That won’t be easy. The first episode is about the last-minute scrambling over the Ponderosa’s debut. The second involves an alleged serial killer who’s on the lam in a Payne vehicle.

Besides Gasteyer (whose character has no experience with car manufacturing) and Dyer, the cast includes “Superstore” alum Jon Barinholtz as the fumbling Payne family heir, Tye White (who hails from Detroit) as a blue-collar worker who deserves a promotion, Michael Benjamin Washington as an engineering whiz, Humphrey Ker as a very British lawyer and X Mayo as an executive assistant. 

Barinholtz, who played over-confident warehouse supervisor Marcus on “Superstore,” told the Free Press that “American Auto” represents “the flip side” of that show’s workplace dynamic — but with characters who are just as quirky and vulnerable as the “Superstore” Cloud Nine crew.

“What was really fun to explore on (“American Auto”) was, oh, just because they’re decision-makers doesn’t make them any more capable than the workers whose decisions they’re affecting. So we see how these decisions are made, and it’s not with as much thought as you would hope it is, if you’re a worker. It’s sometimes kind of just flying by the seat of their pants.”