Small Business Stories- Hot Wheels

Alex Fees: Speed, power, performance and attitude, that was the criteria, Hot Wheels officials gave to automotive manufacturers in the first ever Designer's Challenge. Parent Company: Mattel wanted an original Hot Wheels vehicle designed for its 2008, 40th anniversary celebration. Participants included designers from Dodge, Ford, General Motors, Lotus, Mitsubishi, and the capital H in the design of the Guillermo Gonzalez stands for Honda. Guillermo Gonzalez: So, we are used to work in a large scale, so working in 60 parts scale, we wanted a good designer car that we immediately identify as being a Honda. So the initial idea was to use the Honda logo as the main body of the car. Alex Fees: This Wall of Wheels features 2400 cars and those are just the new models. Since 1968, Hot Wheels cars have made orange plastic track an adolescent rites of passage in American culture. Mike McFarland: It's a fun thing. I have my office and wife is a little concerned. I now have top 400 cars around on the walls of my office and cabinets, and things like that. Gary Massengill: Yeah. If it wasn't for these cars. I mean some of us wouldn't even be in this profession we are in so - Alex Fees: I know Gary Massengill: I do custom paints, that's how I feel about it. Alex Fees: A testament to that is this man, like a rock star. Larry Wood attracts people, willing to stand inline for an autograph. His claiming the same, one of the originals. Wood has been a Hot Wheels car designer since 1969. The Mattel Brands, Vice-President of Wheels Marketing, Geoff Walker cannot rest on such laurels for him. Hot Wheels cars are part of the future. Geoff Walker: We have a great fan base with a branding around for 40 years. Guys like us that are grown up playing with Hot Wheels and now they have kids and their kids are playing with Hot Wheels, so it's a generational thing, that kids and adults love Hot Wheels. Alex Fees: Walker says, Hot Wheels sells more of their cars annually than all the auto makers combined, some 300 million cars worldwide. Geoff Walker: No gas mileage, the engine can go anywhere. You can have two engines, in couple of the cases. But one constraint, we did give him, it had to work on orange track. Alex Fees: Hot Wheels, a little car that is a big deal, and quickly becoming a Diecast American Dynasty. In Las Vegas, at SEMA 2007, I am Alex Fees for SBTV.com.