the Lamley Group: Has Hot Wheels made its last Ferrari? The Mattel/Ferrari exclusive licensing agreement ends this year... A press release says that models scheduled for 2014 will be produced over the next 6 months but models scheduled for 2015 will be dropped.
Lots of speculation but supposedly Burago/Maisto for low end, Kyosho for mid and continuing with BBR, CMC, etc for high.
I sure wish Make Up Eidolon would again obtain the license for their 1/43 models. I would also love to see them build a 1/18 scale Ferrari line.
If a license expires, does production have to stop immediately, or is there som sort of transitional period? I wonder what will happen with the 1/18 scale 312 T2 they were supposed to release.
If Hotwheels can't make their license profitable, others will have the same problem. Its very difficult making money with the license-fees Ferrari is charging. Make Up will not be making Ferrari's in the future.. unfortunately.
The T2 will still be released, as will the La Ferrari and the speciale...but not the california t nor the F14t.....Burago/maisto will take over.....to bad because mattel was doing a great job....i guess i must turn to fujimi in order to keep my f.1 1/43 collection going..bbr is out off my league...
I'm going to miss their F1 cars as Matter/Hotwheels did a great job in the details in such and I rather have Mattel in my collection instead of Burago/maisto as having a crappy reputation in their 1:18 Ferraris....
I've got just about every elite they've made, save a few (355 and one of the 348's - because I already had them previously) - Was thinking about stocking up on a few, though. Did anyone ever see a regular (non) super elite red 458 coupe? I never saw them and I don't know that I ever saw one pop up on the ebay.
Nope... I too haven't seen the non-elite 458 coupes, so maybe this version fell through since collectors may want the high-end versions instead... I know the non-elites are about 20% cheaper, so who knows!
So will i, the 1/43 f.1 elite where getting pretty good....if Minichamps made them it would be ok, if not let´s hope fujimi does, because they seem to be ok and not maga-expensive
I have the Hot Wheels 1/18 F2002 and I am not impressed - no engine and rather coarse on the details, especially when compared to the Exotos that make up the rest of my 1/18 collection. But then, the Hot Wheels model was much less expensive, so I don't have any real problem with it - it looks like an F2002 and that's good enough, at least for now.
The 458 was made in Elite, Foundation and Super Elite series and at one point or another all three were very much available all over the place.
To clarify- I never saw the Elite in red... It doesn't even show up on ebay for sale - only the base (Foundation?) and Super Elite. Bummer of a deal.
The 458 Italia was made in 5 different versions through the Elite range. They made Rosso Corsa, Nero Stelatto and Giallo Tristrati. Then they made Alonso's white one and more recently the China car. The red went crazy in price not long after it was released and then became impossible to find. Now, if you can find one for sale, they reach $400 at times. The Giallo Tristrati is just as hard to find, but stays just a touch cheaper. The black one you can still find and they go for about $150-200. The Alonso car was available until recently, but now it has disappeared too. The China car is readily available and you can get it for under $100 delivered. Hope this helps.
Thanks... I picked up a red non-elite, when there were no red elites to be had... Wasn't happy about it, but I wasn't about to drop 200+ on a super elite (or more for a regular elite, possibly) - Still, it seems bizarre to me that the regular elite in red sold out and isn't fairly available on the secondary market - I've never heard of that happening before (but has since happened with the red test version of the F40 Competizione, it seems)
somewhat related - This afternoon I saw the first couple of Hot Wheels Elite 1:18 LaFerrari's popping up on the ebay. One seller with zero feedback from China (probably with a factory connection) and another in California (opening pre-orders for the end of August) I didn't order either, as I've got a handful of sellers I prefer to use, but good to see them getting closer to be released in to the wild... I've had an open spot in my display case for over a year now. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Just heads up guys... I found this info on the Replicarz website in regards to the recent Ferrari Mattel/hotweels diecast rummors and here's the latest you should know... Bummer!!! "Any 2014 releases will be produced and released within the next six months. This includes the 1:18 LaFerrari and the 312 T2 Nicki Lauda. But any models that had already been designated as 2015 releases have all been cancelled". This includes: BLY36 Elite 1:18 Ferrari California T Red BLY37 Elite 1:18 Ferrari California T Colour #2 BLY38 Elite 1:18 Ferrari California T Colour #3 BLY41 Elite 1:18 Ferrari F1 2014 as Driven by F. Alonso BLY48 Elite 1:43 Ferrari California T Red BLY49 Elite 1:43 Ferrari California T Colour #2 BLY50 Elite 1:43 Ferrari California T Colour #3 BLY55 Heritage 1:18 Ferrari 458 Speciale Red BLY56 Heritage 1:18 Ferrari 458 Speciale - White
What's so bummer about that? Basically the only thing that dropped was the California T. The Speciale in foundation guize would have sucked anyway, so who cares. They are still making the Elite, which even at a 50% premium compared to previous releases, still would be a third of the price of a MR and twice as good.
I haven't bought a model car in a long time. I might need to pick up a 1:18 elite speciale f12 and laferrari before it is too late. By the way, I have a red elite 458 coupe I got it when they first came out. It is just sitting on display out of the box.