Mattel

Mattel
Specialty	Toy vehicles
Website	www.carstoys.de

Disney Pixar Cars is a brand of scale model cars designed and produced by the American toy company Mattel, in collaboration with Disney and Pixar based on their animation franchise of the same name. Introduced to markets in 2006 alongside the release of the Cars film, Mattel continues to hold the exclusive license to produce Cars vehicle toys. The brand is part of Mattel's "Wheels" division, sharing a design and marketing team with both Hot Wheels and Matchbox.

Similar to the aforementioned product lines, the line consists of a primary size and scale of die-cast vehicles, with Cars models typically designed at 1:55 scale - however, the brand also occasionally includes vehicles of other scales, in addition to play sets and other commodities. The brand aims to introduce consumers to "diverse personalities and walks of life" while harnessing the "friendship and humor" of the Cars franchise.

Originally intended as a temporary tie-in to support the first Cars film, the unexpected popularity of both and the film and its toys inspired Mattel to continue its production. Since debuting in April 2006, the line has expanded to release models from the sequel films and Cars Toon shorts, as well as the Planes spin-off franchise, and even storybooks and lesser-known Cars media. Although the line is primarily marketed to children ages 3 and older, it has also attracted and catered to a fanbase of adult collectors, similarly to Mattel's Hot Wheels line. In addition to retailer-exclusive deals and promotions, they have held special collector's editions and produced rare, limited-edition models.

History

A Lightning McQueen diecast (1:55 scale) comparied to a Hot Wheels car (1:64 scale)

The first batch of die-casts were released in April 2006 to coincide with the first movie’s release in June of that year. They were mostly just the main characters from the film with some variants of the characters here and there. These cars were made in Thailand.

The line saw instant success. So unlike many movie tie-in merchandise lines, this line continued. By 2007 they started to produce secondary and minor characters, as well as more character variants. By this point, Thailand has stopped producing any characters and all die-casts were now made in China.

By 2008 they started numbering each release in the year, along with introducing Chases, which were die-casts that were only allowed to be produced once and never re-released. The only 2 vehicles to break that rule were Lee Racé and Miles Axlerod with Open Hood with their 2022 and 2023 re-releases respectively. They also introduced a sub-line this year called the Story Tellers, consisting of new characters, character variants and re-releases of characters seen in the World of Cars and Mater Saves Christmas books.

In 2009 they continued to make all sorts of characters from the movie, and started to experiment with giving the characters lenticular eyes to have their eyelids open and close. This year also introduced “Chase Packaging”. While the die-casts themselves weren’t different, the packaging was specially decorated for each character with logos and patterns relating to them. Chase Packagings have never been brought back after 2009.

2010, being the year before Cars 2’s release, introduced the Final Lap collection. It was branded as your last chance to get characters from the first movie before the Cars 2 toy line started. The lenticular die-casts also became a lot more common this year, now with the characters’ eyes looking different directions. Many fans disliked these as the lenticular effect made it look like the cars had more than two eyes at some angles. No new lenticular die-casts were released after 2010. This year also introduced the Cars Toons sub-line. A line of die-casts based off of the Mater’s Tall Tales shorts. A lot of die-casts were unfortunately canceled this year to make way for next year’s toy line based off of Cars 2.

In 2011, to coincide with Cars 2’s releases, the line started exclusively producing characters and variants from the second movie. Right off the bat, they produced characters both major and minor. Some special character variants that were never seen in the movie were released this year, including die-casts with silver and metallic finishes. This year also introduced Super Chases, which were die-casts produced in limited quantities.

In 2013, Mattel started producing characters from the first movie again, along with the second. This year they introduced multiple series that they use to categorize releases in, and started numbering the releases in each series. They’ve also introduced the Radiator Springs Classic series this year, a line exclusive to Toys R Us and consisting of releases of all kinds of characters from the first movie, loosely following the theme of Radiator Springs. They’ve also released more metallic and silver die-casts both old and new. Some lenticular die-casts were also re-released this year.

2014 saw the return of the Cars Toons line with a lot of re-releases and the new release of Tokyo Mater exclusive to a 3-pack with the same name. That 3-pack would later go on to be one of the rarest and most sought after items in the 1:55 scale die-cast line, and goes for insane prices online. This year also featured releases from the The Radiator Springs 500½ short film, and also introduced the EU (Expanded Universe) lines, which became staples of the die-cast line. The first incarnation of the EU lines was the Transcontinental Race Of Champions (TROC). Which was a league of races hosted by racers that participated in the World Grand Prix, with the exception of Vitaly Petrov (Ice Racers). The first collection of TROC die-casts was released this year, being the Neon Racers line.

In 2015, the mobile app Cars Daredevil Garage released, which was a game where you scan in your die-casts (although would usually register the wrong car) and unlock digital versions of them to play with in-game. Later on in the year, the packaging of the die-casts advertised the app, much to the fans’ anger. The final die-casts from The Radiator Springs 500½ short were released this year, and we also got some more releases from the Cars Toons lines. This year’s TROC collections were the Silver Racers, which were re-releases of the silver World Grand Prix Races, and the Ice Racers. This year also featured a 3-pack from the now canceled To Protect and Serve short film.

2016 saw the end of the Cars Daredevil Garage app, and the TROC line with the Carbon Racers and Carnival Cup collections. But also saw the return of die-casts based off of Mater Saves Christmas, no longer classified under the Story Tellers brand, and the start of the Road Trip line, a collection of Radiator Springs townies with extra road trip gear, possibly based off of an early concept for Cars 3.

Unlike 2011, 2017’s early months continued as usual, picking off from where 2016 ended. But with Cars 3 releasing in June, Mattel had to cancel a bunch of planned releases to focus on Cars 3’s line of toys, including having to cancel a bunch of releases from the Mater Saves Christmas line, the Cars Toons line, and the newly introduced Mater and the Easter Buggy line, and canceling the Road Trip line as a whole. Just like with Cars 2, we’ve got a lot of releases of major and minor characters from the movie. The series categorization has been ditched temporarily. The packaging style for this year was infamous for not featuring artwork of each character, which many fans disliked.

In late 2018, Thailand started producing die-casts in the mainline, while China continued to produce products for side lines. This year mostly contained re-releases from the past three movies, and most new releases were from Cars 3, now categorized by series again, although, the releases are no longer numbered. Thailand was infamous in 2018 for producing die-casts with blurrier decals and wheels than China’. This year brought back the EU series with the Fireball Beach Racers and Thomasville Racing Legends series, which featured repaints of Cars 3 Stock-Cars and Next-Gens, and also brought back the Radiator Springs Classic series after its absence in 2017, heavily consisting of releases from the third movie, however, with Toys R Us’ closing in the United States and most other countries that year, the line was cancelled with only a handful of releases after its comeback.

2019 saw the start of the Xtreme Racing Series (XRS), similar to TROC, the XRS was a league of races, this time hosted by The Racing Sports Network (RSN). The lines featured this year were Mud Racing and Drag Racing.

In 2020, China stopped producing die-casts and Thailand took over the mainline, while the sub-lines and multi-packs were made in Vietnam. This year also saw the end of the XRS with the Rocket Racing line, however, another EU line was created to replace it, that being the Radiator Springs Endurance Racers series. This year also introduced the Welcome To Radiator Springs series, a replacement for Radiator Springs Classic, now restricted to only the townies (including Lightning McQueen), and each car came with an accessory and a "bumper" sticker.

2021 completely ditched the series categorization, now labelling mainline releases “As Seen In Cars”, “As Seen In Cars 2” and “As Seen In Cars 3”, with the exception of the Racing Red series and Golden Lightning McQueen, which were special edition die-casts meant to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the first movie. Mainline releases of die-casts that haven’t appeared in the movies are still categorized that way. Mattel also started labelling new mainline releases with a “New For 2021” logo on the packaging, something they were already doing with Hot Wheels. This year continued the Welcome To Radiator Springs line, but replaced the accessories and bumper stickers with keychains featuring a picture of each character. This year also introduced the NASCAR X Cars crossover line, with redesigns of the main characters, some Next-Gens, and exclusive, unique characters based off of real NASCAR drivers. The Radiator Springs Endurance Racers series was also continued this year. And die-casts from the Mater Saves Christmas book were re-released this year, now made in Vietnam. The line also featured two new releases, a new design for Ramone paint-job, and the previously cancelled, Snowmobile.

2022 got rid of the full blister that hold the vehicle to their packaging. They’ve been replaced by a plastic piece shaped like each die-cast. The amount of new releases from Cars and Cars 2 increased, and with the release of Cars on the Road in September of that year, they introduced an “As Seen In Cars on the Road” categorization into the mainline. This year had the final three releases of the NASCAR X Cars crossover line, with all-new NASCAR-styled wheels. This year also continued the Radiator Springs Endurance Racers and Welcome To Radiator Springs lines.

2023 kept the same style of packaging from 2022, however in #E the packaging was slightly updated, now having the white part behind the blister keep the same red design on the rest of the packaging. All but one new releases are from Cars on the Road, with Braker Boggs being the only release from the movies.

2024 continued to use the "Red Desert" motif, that started being used 2 years prior. This year contiuned to make characters and variations based off Cars on the Road, with Mandy Freunderbender being the only movies release. This year was notable due to its small showing of Cars 2 releases, only having 6 of them, likely due to the introduction of the Global Racers Cup (abbreviated as GRC), a new expanded universe series in the mainline based off the World Grand Prix racers, as well as including Cruz Ramirez and Jackson Storm. This was the only year post Thailand production shift to not include and new Piston Cup racer Thailand variations.

2025 still used the same motif that began in 2022. It was very controversial in the Cars fanbase due to there only being 2 new releases that were not from Race & Rescue, with the new series having eighteen releases under its belt. This year continued the trend of having few Cars 2 releases, only having 3 and being the first mainline not centered around a new movie to not release Lightning McQueen with Racing Wheels. The low amount of Cars 2 releases is most likely attributed to the continuation of the GRC, with releases from the prior year being reincluded in cases until Race & Rescue started coming out in Case V. This year technically brought back the heavily requested Cars 3 stock cars with Cal Weathers getting a variation in Race & Rescue. This would be the last year that vehicles were produced in Thailand.

2026 continued to use the "Red Desert" styling on the cardbacks, along with bringing back Race & Rescue. This year marks a shift back to Chinese production on the mainline, likely due to tariffs imposed by the United States. These new Chinese made diecasts are more similar to the made in Thailand variants as opposed to being a return to the pre 2018 style. This year brought back Speedy Comet, making him the first standard Cars 3 stock car release in the mainline since 2021. This year also brought back Chris Roamin and Marilyn, both of whom had not been reissued in the mainline since 2018.

Since March 2019, Simon Poirier-Malo has held the position of Lead Project Designer. Gretchen De Castellane was formerly the Director of Hot Wheels, Matchbox, & Pixar Cars Packaging Design.

Products

Mainline
The center of the Cars brand is the appropriately-named "mainline." Each year launches a brand-new collection of both never-before-seen and returning die-cast vehicles, distributed via monthly shipping assortments. As of 2025, the Cars mainline consists of both single blister cards and 2-packs.
Themed assortments
Supplementing the staple Mainline, other 1:55-scale product collections are designed and made available, ranging from a brief run to a years-long mainstay – some lines even come and go as they please.
Side series		Collections		Special series
A "side series" is marketed on the same level and availability as the core Mainline, though subsists separately by nature of co-existing (the original Cars Toons line); Alternately, an overarching series that spans multiple smaller-scale collections, such as the TROC and XRS lines.		Die-cast assortments themed around a particular commonality or marketing element, or perhaps exclusive to a specific retailer.		Limited vehicle assortments produced in 1:55 scale, but not typically die-cast; often boast "special" features or quirks, such as color-changing paint schemes or electronic technology.
Premium
Kept out of the reach of typical retail chains, these items hold an elevated status: Often produced in scarce numbers and explicitly designed for packaged display, available only at Mattel-sanctioned conventions or the company's own MattyCollector.com outlet.			These include both the classic Matty 1:24 vehicle line as well as the sought-after Precision Series.
Other scales
				Sample
<---		1:55		--->

Media

Books

• 2009 Collector Guide
• 2010 Collector Guide
• Cars: Character Encyclopedia
• Ultimate Sticker Collection: Disney Pixar Cars

Games

• Cars Daredevil Garage

Trivia

• A 1:55 scale die-cast of Lightning McQueen, along with Chick Hicks and Brush Curber, appear in one of the exhibit elements at The Science Behind Pixar exhibition.
• "Mater Private Eye" is the only Cars Toon not to have received any 1:55 merchandise.
• According to Jay Ward, the creative director for the Cars movies, he names every newly produced character; many parody real-life Pixar employees who have contributed to the franchise.