For 2023, the Hot Wheels mainline is numbered 1 through 250 with color variations not receiving a new number. Treasure Hunts and store exclusives are numbered. For the listing by series see List of 2023 Hot Wheels (by Series). Maggie Lovitt is the Lead News Editor at Collider and panelist on Collider Dailies. In addition to reporting on the latest entertainment news, she is also an actor and member of the Screen Actors Guild based out of the Mid-Atlantic Region.

Grab your swimsuit and jump into this Barbie ® Extra dream car! Ride top down in style, and dip into the pool on those extra hot days. WU: Yeah, so the pink Corvette, the one that's in the actual movie, we do have a Hot Wheels version of that. So yeah, absolutely, that was us, and that was our team. The funny thing about that car is, in the movie, the car is, as you can tell, it's scaled down because it's a Barbie-size vehicle. It is a Corvette ‘59, but it's scaled down so she looks larger in it. So we took that into account when we made the 1:64 scale Hot Wheels. I would assume it also means you can dream bigger because it shows people want to see their toys come to life.But yeah, we worked with our partners across the aisle in Barbie. That's one of a few different diecast cars we have from the Barbie world, as well as we've got some– I'm pausing because I'm wondering if, actually, what I'm talking about is out yet, and it might not be. But we are working very closely with our friends over in Barbie, and you may see some fun things soon. I'm curious, are we going to see synergy between brands at all? I'm thinking about specific cars out right now; there's the race reverse that kind of merges, across the aisle, different IP, but also within Mattel. Are we going to see that in scripted and unscripted television in the future? Is there a crossover between the Dream House and the Ultimate Challenge ? Are we going to see things like that moving forward? Ted, you've been with Mattel for, I think, two decades this year, which is quite the accomplishment, and I'm sure over the years, you've probably met fans of both Mattel and Hot Wheels—a lot of them—but what was the moment where you realized that your job has a tangible impact on the lives of consumers? Because watching the show and seeing how people react so sentimentally to these vehicles, it has to have some sort of emotional response for you as well. TED WU: Yeah, absolutely. First off, I've never thought about my time as spanning across two decades, which is horrifying [laughs] but thank you for that moment of realization. Is there a car this season that you couldn't believe they pulled off turning into a life-size car? For both of you, which car kind of was like, “Oh my god, I can't believe this is in front of me and life-size?”

Obviously, we're living in a world [where] viewers have a million choices to go through, and then a million others that they could dig for. So for us, we really have to find ways to stand out, and the way we're gonna stand out is to connect with them on a level that no one else can. Then I know we haven't gotten to it, but the finale is phenomenal. So all the cars—and I won't spoil anything—but the cars there are…it's really worthy of a finale. I think everything is jiving at that point, and I feel like it's sort of like next level with those car builds. Something you were talking about there got me thinking about the experience of Barbie , and the marketing strategy was so much more about selling an experience than selling toys. And I think the same thing can be said about—obviously you're still selling toys—but the same thing is in the Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge , and also the Barbie Dream House challenges. It's not so much about, “Hey, watch this show and buy a toy tomorrow.” It's about investing an emotional stake in something that matters to you, will matter to your children, will matter to their children. I think that's a really sincere, really interesting avenue to explore for Mattel. Excellent. I know I hit Ted with the in-depth question about multiple years of work somewhere, but I had a similar question for you, Phil. You have this really rich history of involvement in a lot of childhood memories, both at Mattel now, but also at Disney, developing shows. I often think about those shows and how they brought us so much talent – people like Zendaya. When you're looking at creating scripted television, have you thought about how with the new talents you bring into this, this could be the start of a huge global career for them, and how you have that involvement in fostering these amazing talents?

Well, if it's any of the Ken vehicles, I'm very here for that because the Ken vehicles are what I'm looking for! And whether that's scripted or unscripted, our approach is really just to try to do it in the same way that– We need to remember that we're a toy company, right? And what we're basing our concepts on are our toys. So how do you make that appealing to both kids and adults so that it's a family event rather than, “Oh, this is just a kid show,” you know? That's not what we do. For us, it's about, you know, in the same way that Mattel appeals across the board for people, for adults and kids. And we want to do the same thing with our programming. If there is any change that we've made, and specific to live-action, is the fact that we're really going after the entire family because we want it to be something that the whole family can sit down for and enjoy together. The sports car was originally designed by Judy Choi, a designer in Mattel's Barbie division; Kevin Cao later took the design and recreated it in various scales, including this model. The hood opens to act as a fashion closet and storage cubby while the rear portion where the engine would be is a miniature swimming pool for a pet. The life-sized car features rainbow-colored five-spoke rims, a holographic glittery finish and synthetic fuzz on the seat headrests. For its size the casting is notably very heavy with a centered weight distribution.