Hot Wheels is an American media franchise and brand of scale model cars invented by Elliot Handler and introduced by his company Mattel on May 18, 1968.[2] It was the primary competitor of Matchbox until Mattel bought Matchbox owner Tyco Toys in 1997.

Many automobile manufacturers have since licensed Hot Wheels to make scale models of their cars, allowing the use of original design blueprints and detailing. Although Hot Wheels were originally intended to be children's toys, they have become popular with adult collectors, for whom limited edition models are now made available.

The original Hot Wheels were made by Elliot Handler.[3] Handler discovered his son Kenneth playing with Matchbox cars and decided to create a line to compete with Matchbox. Hot Wheels were originally conceived by Handler to be more like "hot rod" cars (i.e., customized/modified or even caricaturized or fantasy cars, often with big rear tires, superchargers, flame paint-jobs, outlandish proportions, hood blowers, etc.), as compared to Matchbox cars which were generally small-scale models of production cars.[4] He began producing the cars with assistance from fellow engineer Jack Ryan. The flame logo was designed by Rick Irons, an art director working at Mattel at the time.[5]