Mattel Announces Hot Wheels x Ferrari Partnership

After a 10-year hiatus, Ferrari and diecast toy maker Hot Wheels have suddenly become friends again, with one of toy giant Mattel’s biggest divisions getting the green light to once again produce 1:64-scale models of some of the world’s most famous racing and road cars. That’s right; starting this year, Hot Wheels x Ferrari is a thing.

The first set to “roll off the line”, as it were, will come as part of a specialized Hot Wheels line-up that falls under the Mattel Creations brand, a brand aimed at older collectors; indeed, with a USD $100 price tag, it’s priced as such. It includes a 1970 412P race car finished in special “Spectraflame” paint and with classic Redline wheels. As a bonus: this was the first Ferrari Hot Wheels ever did, way back in 1970, just two short years after the brand was launched. The car joining the 412P in this special box set sits at the other end of the Ferrari racing spectrum; a 499P Modificata, Ferrari’s latest Le Mans racer.

Don’t think that these new Ferraris will be limited to high-end collectors; the fist batch of the collab also includes “mainline” models of the F40 Competitzione, SF90 Stradale and 365 GTB4 Competitzione. Between those and the limited edition box set, we find an example of the “Team Transport” series that pairs a Hot Wheels car with a truck-based transport vehicle. In Ferrari’s case, the car is a 250 GTO and the transport vehicle is a Fiat 642 RN2 Bartoletti, which was actually used to transport Ferraris when Fiat owned the brand. Unlike the plastic-wheeled mainline models, these will have higher quality paint, decals and rubber tires. Speaking of rubber tires and better paint: there will also be premium examples of the F50, LaFerrari and a standalone version of the 499P Modificata.

Rounding out the first batch of the Hot Wheels Ferrari series is a horse of a somewhat different colour; a 1:64 scale radio control version of the SF90 Assetto Fiorano, a track-focused version of the SF90 supercar.

Of course, these represent the initial run; getting licensing to produce Ferrari toys is a notoriously hard ask so Mattel’s going to want to make the most of the deal. If we use history as our guide, we can imagine five-packs of mainline Ferraris, more classic models (Hot Wheels has produced the likes of the 250 Testarossa, the 512, the 550 Maranello, the 355 F1 and more throughout their history; think they would just get rid of tooling for all that? We don’t think so), deluxe box sets as part of the new silver label series and perhaps even some larger 1:43 scale models. And let’s not forget that Mattel recently entered into a partnership with the FIA Formula 1 series, and so far one of the only F1 cars they have not yet produced is the Ferrari…

Exciting times for both Hot Wheels and Ferrari tifosi alike.