Hot Wheels id
The next generation of the world’s favorite diecast
Back in January 2019, I was invited by Mattel to come out to its headquarters in El Segundo, California, to participate on an advisory council for a new Hot Wheels product. I had no idea what it was going to be, but I was honored to be chosen to be a part of what was about to happen. Being a Hot Wheels historian and already a part of Hot Wheels history, I was excited now to be a part of its future as well.
After signing more nondisclosure agreements than I could possibly remember, I was admitted into the top-secret Hot Wheels Design Center. Very few non-Mattel people have been allowed to enter this space, let alone walk around looking at all the latest products in the works.
The question I and the rest of the advisory council were there to contemplate was “What do we do with a toy that’s survived for 50 years so that it will continue to meet play and collector needs for the next 50 years?” More specifically, how do you meet the needs of today’s toy-buying consumer without alienating your loyal clientele? The answer: Hot Wheels id!
A Hot Wheels id car is a car that looks like a well-detailed premium Hot Wheels car such as you would find today, but it has a microchip inside its chassis that helps bring today’s technology to the world of hands-on play. This chip identifies each car individually—just like the modern full-size vehicles we drive on the street today. As with the full-size vehicle, the VIN (vehicleidentification number) stays with that vehicle and cannot be transferred to any other. This chip will also retain permanent performance information. This information will include track lap times, scale miles per hour, and many other parameters that up until now we’ve only imagined as we’ve played with our Hot Wheels cars. Sure, you may have bench-raced your friend and claimed that your car was faster, but with Hot Wheels id, you now have the opportunity to prove it. To do that, you’ll need the Hot Wheels Race Portal.
The Hot Wheels Race Portal is part of the Hot Wheels id track system that downloads the performance information as the vehicle passes through it. Once the information is downloaded from the Portal, it then records it and sends it to your phone or tablet via the Hot Wheels id app. Once you’ve downloaded the app from the App Store, all you need to do is scan the bottom of the car with the
NFC reader on your cell phone or the Hot
Wheels Race Portal track section and it loads the car’s information into your personal digital garage of vehicles.
The initial release of the app was for Apple’s iOS, and for the first 30 days, the initial physical release and sale of the cars and track took place at Apple Stores across the country, where they were set up for a hands-on experience with guidance from the Apple Store personnel. After that initial 30 days, the app went up on the Google Play Store for the Android platform, and the cars became available on Amazon. By the time you are reading this, they should be available at Target stores as well. Mattel plans on releasing 51 Hot Wheels id vehicles for 2019 (corresponding to Hot Wheels 51st year in production). It will be a limited production run with a retail price of $6.99—just a bit more than the premium Hot Wheel line cars, positioning them as instant collectibles. At last search, there have been some deals to be found on the hotwheelscollectors.com website as well, with a 3-pack of Hot Wheels id cars for $20.97 or a 5-pack for $34.95. The Hot Wheels id Track Set includes the track, Race Portal, and two exclusive cars only available in the set; it retails for $179.99. Or you can purchase the Hot Wheels Race Portal by itself for just $39.99 and use it with the Hot Wheels track that you already have. Either way, it’s a new and exciting way to play with your Hot Wheels tracks and accessories.