EARTH’S POPULATION recently passed eight billion. An incredible, jaw-dropping stat – until you learn Hot Wheels got there first. Production reached 8bn in a little over five decades, too, its very first miniature car rolling out of the factory in 1968.
Nowadays, there’s 16 made every second; that’s a rate of around 500 million cars each year, with the ecosystem surrounding their design, engineering and manufacturing looking every bit as mature as those for the full-size cars they mimic.
So much more than a toy, Hot Wheels has become a phenomenon. In the case of those now occupying significant roles at parent company Mattel, it’s how their entire love of cars sprung into life. “My first Hot Wheels car was the Z-Whiz [based around a Datsun 240Z] and my first Matchbox car was a Land Rover Defender 90,” says brand director Jimmy Liu. “I love both dearly and still have them. Collecting these cars as a kid kept an interest in cars going into my adult life.”
It’s the expertise of Jimmy and his team that helps decide which cars occupy the blister packs hanging tantalisingly at the supermarket, perilously
