Which Country Is Hot Wheels From?

Hot Wheels is from the United States, developed by an American toy car company called Mattel. The first line of Hot Wheels, which was referred to as the Sweet 16 were introduced into the market via the 1968 New York Toy Fair.

The first batches of hot wheels were manufactured in Mattel’s U.S and Hong Kong facilities. Today, their manufacturing centers are scattered across China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

When were Hot Wheels invented?

It was in the 1960s that Hot Wheels were invented. Elliot Handler, the co-founder of Mattel, decided to come up with a toy car that would surpass the Matchbox toy car, which is a British brand and was already popular during that time. He envisioned a toy that would capture the hearts of boys, like how their Barbie Dolls also dominated the girls’ attention.

So, Handler enlisted the help of one of the top designers of Chevrolet, named Harry Bradley, and chose him to spearhead the design team. Handler wanted the toy cars to look authentic yet radical at the same time as well. Thus, the series “Sweet 16” was born.

The Sweet 16 series include the Beatnik Bandit, Custom Barracuda, Custom Camaro, Custom Corvette, Custom Cougar, Custom Eldorado, Custom Firebird, Custom Fleetside, Custom Mustang, Custom T-Bird, Custom Volkswagen, Deora, Ford J-Car, Hot Heap, Python and Silhouette.

Are Hot Wheels Still Popular?

Yes, hot wheels are still popular up to this day. In fact, there is a yearly event called 18 Legends Tour held at Walmart locations anywhere in the United States. This event is participated by more than 100,000 people and joined by about 5,000 car entries. In this event, one lucky car will be chosen as the new casting for the following year’s series of Hot Wheels edition. Another proof of Hot Wheels’ Popularity is the fact that it remains the World’s No.1 Selling Toy and Hot Wheels are shared on social media every 30 seconds.