4/10/2024 — Below are the slides from the Mattel Sneak Peeks Presentation from the 24th Hot Wheels Collectors Nationals Finale. This year’s Nationals event happened in Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday, April 6, 2024. This year’s presentation was narrated by the following members of the Hot Wheels Design Team that attended the event: Brendon Vetuskey (casting design), Dwayne Vance (casting design), Ron Wong (casting design), Charlie Angulo (casting design), Julian Koiles (package design), Tiff Powell (marketing), and Jimmy Liu (director of design/marketing). This article will cover the BASICS SNEAKS which includes the 2024 Hot Wheels Mainline (2024 New Models, Mini Collections, Store Exclusives, and Regular/Super Treasure Hunts). Also covered are a couple of the new Track Fleet castings as well as the 1:43 scale Pull-Back Speeders and the Silver Series Themed Assortments. See the next article for the: PREMIUM SNEAKS (coming soon).
2024 Hot Wheels Mainline (2024 New Models)
I think my new favorite sports car is the Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato — seriously! There is something incredibly appealing and somewhat gratifying about a high-end sports car that is made to go off-road. There wasn’t much said about this one at Nationals outside of the fact that it is a 2024 New Model debuting in mix N in HW Dirt. I’ve done a little digging and discover that this one was actually designed by a new member of the design team: Shawn Moghadam.
Speaking of new members of the design team, Bryan Zhao went from design intern to designer over the last year. One of his first few designs took the Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R LBWK and tooned it accordingly to Ryu Asada’s Noppo-style.
From the sketchbook of Bryan Zhao comes the VW T3 Custom. The design team mentioned that this was a concept that Bryan drew one day — and with the encouragement of the design team — sent it to Volkswagen for licensing approval. It got approved with no changes and will now be made into diecast form!
We have already seen the Porsche 911 Rallye casting preview thanks to the Lamley Sneak Peek video posted last month. With this illustration, we see the casting will wear a Rothmans-inspired livery for it’s first release. This one will read “Roughroads Porsche” on the sides instead of “Rothmans Porsche”.
The Ford Mustang Dark Horse is a performance/appearance package for the 2024 Mustang. Rookie Hot Wheels Design, Shawn Moghadam took this one on so it will be interesting to see if the casting comes out as menacing as the real car.
Debuting as a 2024 New Model in the Race Day mini collection is the Honda S800 Racing designed by Hot Wheels Designer, Fraser Campbell. The old #Retro Slot Wheels from Cool Classics are repurposed here, giving this one a very retro look!
The open-wheeled, ’67 Lotus Type 49 designed Fraser Campbell will make it’s debut in the Hot Wheels 2024 L case assortments in the Race Day mini collection. A couple things noted by the design team on this one. Ron really loves the detailed sculpt of the interior on this one which features a driver with helmet and goggles, in addition to the driver’s hands on that open-wheeled steering wheel. Brendon noted that the first release of this casting will have a white interior as a nod to the early redlines which were released this way.
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2024 Hot Wheels Mainline
The Then and Now mini collection returns for 2024, and as you’ll see below, there are quite a few significant pairs in this segment. The LB-Silhouette Works GT Nissan 35GT-RR Ver.2 returns in this cool gray deco that will pair with the Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R LBWK (Kenmeri) physical model that was shown in-person at the event.
Ryu Asada’s “Dajiban” Dodge Van returns in 2024 as well. This time, it’s in black with a HW Racing deco in the HW Vans mini collection. The photo illustration below also shows you the go kart that is part of the interior piece. For the history on this casting, make sure you check out the initial article I wrote about the origins of this casting.
Here is double-whammy! The ’49 Drag Merc returns after a 10-year hiatus. As if that wasn’t cool enough, this rendition of the casting appears in the all-new, HW Rolling Metal mini collection which looks to be a segment of #ZAMAC vehicles that aren’t exclusive to Walmart. I think the logic here is: ZAMACs are cool, why limit them to one retailer!
We’ve already seen the first release of the Godzilla Nissan Skyline GT-R (BCNR33) in white earlier this year. It is recolored in gray for the second release of it for 2024.
In the words of Hot Wheels Designer, Ron Wong at the finale, “Uhhhhh recolor of the ’16 Ford GT Race car”….
The Hot Wheels AcceleRacers have returned! …at retail that is. The pricey NFT garage Deora II was a tough pill for AcceleRacers fans to swallow so it’s great to see the TEKU livery return on the errrr, Deora III…
…oh wait, here we go! BOOM! The infamous TEKU Deora II is finally available for your hoarding pleasure AcceleRacers (and Deora II) fans! It lacks a lot of detail, but hey, I don’t hear any complaints that this one will be available in the mainline. Do you think we will see other AcceleRacers castings return in a similar style? Most of the castings are still in use today so I don’t see why not.
Here is a super cool one from a deco standpoint. The Dodge Viper SRT10ACR returns in a livery that is loosely based on LeMans-winning Viper GTS-R in 1998. Hot Wheels Designer, Ron Wong worked with Hot Wheels Graphics Designer, Andrés Andrieu on this one. Andres included the #93 for Ron’s birth year and Ron’s “RW” logo under that.
Muscle returns to the mainline with the ’69 Cougar Eliminator in green and I can hear Hot Wheels Designer, Brendon Vetuskey hooting & hollering in my ears … oh wait, it’s because I have the live stream playing through my AirPods. A link to the live stream is at the bottom of this article.
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2024 Hot Wheels Mainline (Store Exclusives)
The first of two new Kroger Exclusive colorways shown was the Pagani Zonda R in light green. As a collector of this casting, it will look very nice amongst the others in black, silver, white, blue, and dark red.
The second Kroger exclusive colorway shown was of the ’95 Mazda RX-7 in dark gray. It features a Project Mu livery. There is a white one which should be out very soon, and this one should hit Kroger stores within the next two months.
The Tooned Porsche 911 Turbo 3.6 (964) returns in white as a Target Red Edition. Those red-chrome 5SP wheels are the icing on the cake here, giving it what amounts to a classic Porsche look.
Another Red Edition for 2024 is the ’92 BMW M3 — not M4 as the slide indicates. There are some sneaky M racing stripes near the bottom of this car.
The ’67 Ford GT40 MK.IV returns as a Walmart Exclusive ZAMAC in the 2024 Hot Wheels Q case assortments. We haven’t seen another of the other colorways yet which will likely show up before this, but these graphics by Hot Wheels Graphic Designer, Anton Henggono, are pretty hot!
A car that seems like it was destined to be a Walmart Exclusive ZAMAC is the Lamborghini Sesto Elemento. It’s one of Ron’s favorites, and the gloss over unpainted body highlights the casting’s strong design.
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2024 Hot Wheels Mainline (Treasure Hunts)
The DMC DeLorean was actually the first car shown in the Nationals Finale Sneak Peek Presentation, however, I have reordered the sneaks for your organizational purposes — if you hadn’t noticed already. This release is in the aforementioned HW Rolling Metal which is a new mini collection for 2024, and will be the N case regular Treasure Hunt.
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2024 Hot Wheels Mainline (Super Treasure Hunts)
The first of four Super Treasure Hunts shown at the finale was the ’96 Nissan 180SX Type X from the HW: The ’90s mini collection. This one will come in spectraflame blue and as part of the 2024 Hot Wheels M case assortment.
Another collaboration between Ron & Andrés in terms of deco. While Ron was at SEMA last year, he sent Andrés a picture of a car with Aero Disc wheels in the front, and Andrés applied the look to this Lamborghini Huracán LP 620-2 Super Trofeo Super Treasure Hunt. Look for it in the 2024 Hot Wheels P case assortment in the HW Exotics mini collection.
If the competition in searching for Hot Wheels Super Treasure Hunts wasn’t already tough, it’s about to get a whole lot tougher by the end of the Hot Wheels year. The always sought-after ’83 Chevy Silverado will once again be a Super Treasure Hunt and you can expect values for this one to be in the triple digits. You’re going to have to hunt extra hard if you’re going to try and score this one for a buck.
2025 Hot Wheels Mainline (Super Treasure Hunts)
Our first look at 2025 comes in the form of the first Super Treasure Hunt for the year: the ’87 Audi quattro. It’s always hard to judge colors by these illustrations, but this one looks to be coming out in a spectraflame emerald green.
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2024 Hot Wheels Track Fleet
Used to be called Trackin’ Trucks, but this new line dubbed the “Track Fleet”, allows for more vehicles outside the realm of trucks. The Volvo 240 Drift Camper designed by Hot Wheels Designer, Dwayne Vance kicks off the new look line alongside some carryovers from Trackin’ Trucks. Unlike Matchbox which already has a line of adventure vehicles similar to this, these will be more racing inspired. Who said a weekend at the drift track can’t be adventurous?!?!? Hahahahaha!
Coming in early 2025 will be the Porsche 911 Off Roader. It features an overland-style trailer complete with spare wheels, tool kit, and a surfboard. The German-inspired deco on this first release was done by Andrés.
2024 Hot Wheels Pull-Back Speeders
Hot Wheels Pull-Back Speeders kind of caught Hot Wheels collectors by surprise. The line was clearly design for kids but the well-done, 1:43 scale castings are done in the essence of the 1:64 scale Hot Wheels. This — and the under 410 price point has collectors becoming more and more interested in this line which has now expanded to Target.
Later this year, the Porsche 914 Safari is recolored in that matte moody blue color we have learned to love on this site.
The Hot Wheels ’85 Mercedes-Benz Unimog increases it’s presence from 1:64 to 1:43 in this line. This is the first release of this 1:43 scale casting.
This brand-new design in the form of the ’19 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack Widebody has collectors wishing we’d see this one in 1:64. Opening the hood should reveal that 485hp Scat Pack V8 engine! This is Hot Wheels Graphic Designer, Ralph Benitez’s real car and even has his guitar in the passenger seat.
The unlicensed Hot Wheels Dimachinni Veloce received a warm welcome when I introduced it here. This will be the second release of the grand-tourer in the 1:43 scale Pull-Back Speeders line. Kind of hoping we see it in a more Italian-inspired livery next, or even in it’s original deco.
This futuristic ’69 Ford Mustang is a great companion piece to the Custom ’68 Camaro that Dwayne designed last year. The only problem is that the Camaro is 1:64 and this new Mustang is 1:43. Hopefully one of these castings crosses the scale threshold so we can get the two castings side-by-side for a comparison and down the orange track!
We will see if love for Hot Wheels Civic extends into the 1:43 scale Pull-Back Speeders line. The ’23 Honda Civic Type R will be released first in red. Will it be the first to go at retail? We shall see. Props to Hot Wheels Designer, Eric Han for the killer design on this one!
Loosely-based on the NISMO, the ’23 Nissan Z Custom should be another popular one as well.
The ’04 Mazda RX-8 Custom is Hot Wheels Designer, Charlie Angulo’s dream build for the RX-8 he used to own. His mom used to own a pastry business so he put a box in the front seat for a hypothetical delivery he is racing to make. The first release of this casting in red is out now. This will be the second release. Eagle-eyed Hot Wheels fans will notice the return of this livery which was first featured in the 2015 mainline on the Mazda RX-7 in the HW Workshop – Speed Team series.
2024 Hot Wheels Silver Series
Hot Wheels Graphic Designer, Mike McClone has been working hard on the new Silver line of vehicles — a mid-tier premium line of sorts.
Automotive mix 4 and 5 will be Motorcycle Club and HW Speed Graphics respectively. All castings will get extra deco and line-exclusive wheels.
The second mix of the 2024 Celebrations line will be the Stars & Stripes series. Shown here are the ’13 SRT Viper, ’13 COPO Camaro, and the ’20 Ford Shelby GT500. The other two cars will be the ’18 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon and the ’20 Corvette.
The Walmart exclusive Neon Speeders will continue with mix 2. In case you didn’t already know, the wheels on these cars are meant to resemble the Walmart spark logo. The Ford GT, McLaren F1 GTR, and ’16 Cadillac ATS-V R are shown here. You can see the remainder of the vehicles in the OTD Master List.
Ultra Hots will continue to be a Target exclusive here in the United States. You can see the remainder of the vehicles in the OTD Master List.
The Hot Wheels Vintage Racing Club will continue with mix 2. These cars all feature pre-1974 inspired racing decos. The first mix was set during the day time, while the second mix is set at night. All of the cars have their headlights on.
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To view the presentation in it’s entirety, check out the live steam video posted to the Diecast Insider YouTube channel:
Categories: News
Tagged as: Sneak Peeks
