Hot Wheels launches Cybertruck toy — with optional cracked window
By Noah Manskar, New York Post, February 21, 2020
Hot Wheels has launched two remote-controlled Cybertruck toys. photo by David Chickering/Hot Wheels
Hot Wheels is rolling out toy versions of Tesla’s futuristic Cybertruck — including one that can simulate a cracked window.
Toy giant Mattel launched pre-orders for two remote-controlled Cybertrucks on Friday, three months to the day after Tesla unveiled the real thing. The lineup includes a limited-edition premium car a tenth of the Cybertruck’s actual size — about two feet long — and a three-inch model that can can zip along tiny Hot Wheels tracks.
They’re expected to be shipped starting in December — about a year before Tesla plans to begin production on its all-electric pickup.
Hot Wheels got the idea and started working on a Cybertruck toy in November, a day after Tesla CEO Elon Musk rolled out the truck’s weird-looking, futuristic design, said Ted Wu, vice president of Hot Wheels design at Mattel. Hot Wheels has produced miniature versions of four other Tesla models, and the electric-car maker was on board with the Cybertruck idea from the start, according to Wu.
“To be able to drive your own Cybertruck before getting the real one was something we thought was a really cool opportunity,” Wu said.
Hot Wheels worked with Tesla staffers including Franz von Holzhausen, the chief designer who infamously shattered the real Cybertruck’s window by pelting it with a metal ball in a botched strength test at Tesla’s launch event. The larger remote-controlled car includes an homage to that mishap: A vinyl sticker that can make its window look cracked.
“It’s really fun,” Wu said. “They understand that this is a toy and they embraced that moment.”
The glass and the furious: Test of 'bulletproof' Cybertruck fails in humiliating Tesla unveiling
The large, two-foot Cybertruck toy costs $400 while the smaller one sells for $20. Both can be ordered through Mattel Creations, the California-based toymaker’s new outfit selling collectible products that was launched to mark the company’s 75th anniversary.
The bigger version is Hot Wheels’s first high-end, “hobby-grade” remote-control car, said Matt Brutocao, Mattel’s senior director of Hot Wheels global brand marketing. The brand hopes it will appeal to RC enthusiasts and Tesla fans as well as Hot Wheels collectors, he said.
Hot Wheels is working to finalize the designs for both products before they get manufactured, Wu said, adding that the company is still figuring out where they will be made. The brand also plans to eventually launch a metal die-cast Cybertruck toy, Brutocao said.
“It’s a very fast moving project and I think something that shows off Mattel’s capability to capitalize on hot trends like this,” Wu said.
Tesla did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment about the Hot Wheels collaboration.
Additional reporting by Nicolas Vega
🐪🗻🐪🗻🐪🗻🐪🗻🐪🗻🐪🗻🐪🗻🐪🗻🐪🗻🐪🗻🐪🗻🐪🗻
🐪🗻 This has been an " Escape From Egypt moment " in honor of the former Escape from Egypt channel on the Disqus network 2018-2019, the absolute weirdest, wackiest and strangest news channel ever on Disqus !🐪🗻
No comments:
Post a Comment