Hot? Hot? Hot?

For the first time ever, Mattel is introducing 100 new castings for the Hot Wheels mainline. This is 88 more First Editions than were introduced 1995, when the current boom in Hot Wheels collecting started.

And it’s not only the large number of new cars that has collectors all over the world in heated discussions but the new design styles as well.

I’ll admit, some of the cars don’t strike me as a home run. I like classic cars and fantasy designs. Even today, the Twin Mill is one of my favorites.

One thing that continues to be overlooked time and time again however is that these cars are made for kids.

It’s been stated that about 30 percent of Hot Wheels sales are to collectors, like the members of our club. The other 70 percent are parents and such buying them for their young ones.

With Hot Wheels, the product line was getting very predictable and maybe a little stale. The toy business is tough with lots of competition. You have to generate a lot of interest and sales if you want to survive.

Today’s kids are into Pokeman, Yu-Gi-Oh, and such. These characters grab their attention and push the envelope.

With this understanding, you can now see what Mattel is trying to accomplish with the Hot 100.

These new designs are radical, different, and at the same time fresh.

If looking through a young child’s eyes, you can see that these cars are screaming to be picked up and hopefully bought by mom or dad.

Will Mattel please everyone, 100% of the time? Not likely. But they are trying to at least make a little bit of something for everybody that likes toy cars whether they are a 5 or 50 year old.

--Robinator

South Texas Diecast