Holderith, Peter (26 November 2020). "Radical Front-Mid-Engine Pontiac Trans-Am Wins This Year's Hot Wheels Legends Tour". The Drive . Retrieved 7 December 2020. Hot Wheels is an American brand of scale model cars invented by Elliot Handler and introduced by his company Mattel on May 18, 1968. [2] It was the primary competitor of Matchbox until Mattel bought Matchbox owner Tyco Toys in 1997. Burgess, Phil, National Dragster editor. "Diamonds in the rough, gators on wheels, diamonds on cars, and how to move a billion dollars", written 20 February 2008, at NHRA.com (retrieved 16 September 2018) Whitener, Whitney (September 28, 2023). "Mattel's New 'Hot Wheels Let's Race' Coming to Netflix". Animation World Network . Retrieved October 1, 2023.

In 2016, Hot Wheels released a special collection for the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ 1966 song “ Yellow Submarine.” The collections includes five cars, a VW microbus and a yellow submarine. [35] Made by other companies [ edit ] On October 4, 2018, Hot Wheels filed a new trademark for the motto it's not the same without the flame. In 2019, a seal was added in the bottom left corner of the blister card with the motto. [20] Galuppo, Mia (April 25, 2022). " 'Hot Wheels' Movie Adds Bad Robot as Producers". The Hollywood Reporter.a b Kroll, Justin (January 30, 2019). " 'Hot Wheels' Live-Action Movie in the Works With Mattel, Warner Bros. (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Skopp, Sam (November 21, 2019). "Relive Your Childhood With Hot Wheels Infinite Loop". The Gamer . Retrieved May 11, 2023. On April 25, 2022, it was announced that Bad Robot Productions will produce the film. [47] [48] On January 23, 2023, Dalton Leeb and Nicholas Jacobson-Larson were announced to write the film. [49] Sizzlers [ edit ]

Many automobile manufacturers have since licensed Hot Wheels to make scale models of their cars, allowing the use of original design blueprints and detailing. Although Hot Wheels were originally intended to be for children and young adults, they have become popular with adult collectors, for whom limited edition models are now made available. Hot Wheels: Beat That! (2007), released for the Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Wii, and Xbox 360. Another designer, Paul Tam, joined Wood and Gilford. Tam's first design was the Whip Creamer. [13] Tam continued to work for Mattel until 1973. Among the many fantastic designs Tam thought up for Hot Wheels, some of the collector's favorites include Evil Weevil (a Volkswagen Beetle with two engines), Open Fire (an AMC Gremlin with six wheels), Six Shooter (another six-wheeled car), and the rare Double Header (co-designed with Larry Wood). Edward Douglas (2006-12-18). "Exclusive: We Are Marshall Director McG!". Comingsoon.net . Retrieved 2009-01-31.Watch in awe as Hot Wheels Colour Shifters change colours right before your eyes! Just dip them into warm water for a colour change and you can revert the change with icy water - an endless cycle of transforming fun. Hot Wheels celebrated its 35th anniversary with a full-length computer-animated film called Hot Wheels Highway 35 World Race. This movie tied into the Highway 35 line of cars that featured 35 classic Hot Wheels cars with special graphics and co-molded wheels. [18] 2004 [ edit ] Kraus, Stephanie (2013-12-06). "Hot Wheels: World's Best Driver". Time for Kids . Retrieved 2016-10-08. Hot Wheels has also released slightly larger, more detailed models, such as the original Gran Toros (1/43 scale) from 1970, and the Dropstars line (a model line of "blinged" cars). Also in this larger scale are the HIN ( Hot Import Nights), G-Machines and Customs lines. These lines were introduced in 2004–2005. Reed, Philip (May 21, 2013). " "Go with the winner!" in these 1970 Hot Wheels Commercials". BattleGrip.com . Retrieved December 28, 2016.

The success of the 1968 line was solidified and consolidated with the 1969 releases, with which Hot Wheels effectively established itself as the hottest brand of small toy car models in the USA. Splittin' Image, Torero, Turbofire, and Twin Mill were part of the "Show & Go" series and are the very first original in-house designs by Hot Wheels. In 2009, Series 5 has 30 models. For the first time, there are chase cars in the classics series. These cars feature Real Riders rubber tires. A few models included are Copper Stopper, 1970 Pontiac GTO, and Hammer Sled. In some cases, Hot Wheels dies have been sold or acquired by other companies once Mattel has finished using them. One example were early dies that made their way to Argentina and were reproduced as Mukys, though not with spectra-flame paints or the same quality as seen in Mattel's products. Mayhew, Ash (November 19, 2019). "Hot Wheels Infinite Loop is Out Right Now on Android". Droid Gamers . Retrieved May 11, 2023. In 1974, Hot Wheels introduced its ' Flying Colors' line, and added flashy decals and "tampo-printed" paint designs which helped revitalize sales. As with the lower-friction wheels in 1968, this innovation was revolutionary in the industry, and—although far less effective in terms of sales impact than in 1968—was copied by the competition, who did not want to be outmaneuvered again by Mattel product strategists.Beam, Jennifer. "Hot Wheels: Jetz - Overview". AllGame. Archived from the original on 2014-11-14 . Retrieved 2016-09-27. Bedigian, Louis (2006-12-18). "Hot Wheels: All Out Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 2007-12-02.

was a very successful year for Hot Wheels, so Mattel came up with a new advertising slogan for the cars: "Go With the Winner". [12] 43 new cars appeared that year, including the Sizzlers and Heavyweights lines. Howard Rees, who worked with Ira Gilford, was tired of designing cars. He wanted to work on the Major Matt Mason action figure toy line-up. Rees had a good friend by the name of Larry Wood, whom he worked with at Ford designing cars. When Wood found out about Hot Wheels at a party Rees was holding, Rees offered him the job of designing Hot Wheels models. Wood accepted, and, by the end of the week, Wood was working at Mattel, where his first design was the Tri-Baby. Larry Wood retired in 2019 after over 40 years of designing cars. On February 18, 2021, the Hot Wheels Mars Perseverance Rover was released; a die-cast scale model latest vehicle in its Space mini-collections inspired by the NASA-launched Perseverance rover. [21] Drive Ahead (2015), the mobile game partnered with Hot Wheels in 2019. The update added five new bosses along with new maps and cars only available during the Hot Wheels event. The event concluded later the same year. Developers have stated that there are no current plans to have another Hot Wheels event. Heater, Brian (September 28, 2017). "Mattel's MindRacers set brings Hot Wheels to life on the iPad". TechCrunch . Retrieved May 4, 2023. Through the years, Hot Wheels cars have been collected mostly by children. However, since the late 1990s, there has been an increase in the number of adult collectors. Mattel estimates that 41 million children grew up playing with the toys, the average collector has over 1,550 cars, and children between the ages of 5 and 15 have an average of 41 cars. Most believe the collecting craze started with the Treasure Hunts in 1995. Mike Strauss has been called the father of Hot Wheels collecting; he has organized two collectors' events each year in some form since 1986. The first event was the Annual Hot Wheels Collectors Convention, normally held each year in the fall. The convention occurred in various locations around the country until 2001, when the first Annual Hot Wheels Collectors Nationals was put together. Since then, the Conventions are held each year in southern California. The Hot Wheels Collectors Nationals rotate among cities outside of California during the spring. Strauss has also published the quarterly Hot Wheels Newsletter since 1986 and was one of the first to unite collectors all over the world. He also writes Tomart's Price Guide To Hot Wheels, a book listing history, car descriptions and values, which is used by almost every collector to learn more about the hobby and their collection. Strauss sold his collection in 2011 and retired from the Hot Wheels Newsletter.Slead, Evan (8 June 2016). "Hot Wheels unveil Beatles' 'Yellow Submarine' 50th anniversary collection". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016 . Retrieved 12 July 2017. Romano, Sal (February 7, 2023). "Mixed reality racing game Hot Wheels: Rift Rally announced for PS5, PS4, and iOS". Gematsu . Retrieved February 7, 2023. Hot Wheels Unleashed (2021), released for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStations 4 and 5 and Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. [84] And last but not least, the RLC will offer a version of Ryu’s personal Acura NSX. Ryu customized his car after an obscure Suzuka Circuit pace car. To honor his memory, the Hot Wheels design team pulled out all the stops, giving the NSX working lights. Activated by pushing down on the spoiler, the lights cycle through multiple patterns such as all-on and alternating flashing. Incredibly, the car even has an interior, though a slightly shallower one the standard to accommodate the electronics for the lights. The first line of Hot Wheels Cars, known as The Original Sweet 16 was manufactured in 1967. These were the first of the Red Line Series, named for the tires which had a red pin stripe on their sides. [5]