The country on the base

Your Hot Wheels says “Made in Hong Kong” – what years does that mean? We counted the country on the base for 4,399 of our 28,638 models: 9 countries with model count and the exact years each one appears in our data.

9 countries on Hot Wheels bases

Number of models, castings and the years in which each country appears in our data.

Country	Models	Castings	Years in our data	By decade
Malaysia	1,679	465	1982–2016	2010s 101 · 2000s 7 · 1990s 1,041 · 1980s 447
China	1,368	531	1990–2023	2020s 5 · 2010s 21 · 2000s 64 · 1990s 1,002
Hong Kong	668	311	1968–1991	1990s 3 · 1980s 292 · 1970s 293 · 1960s 80
USA	248	61	1968–1976	1970s 62 · 1960s 186
Thailand	226	83	1997–2017	2010s 29 · 2000s 55 · 1990s 122
France	55	41	1982–1987	1980s 55
Mexico	39	30	1971–1987	1980s 33 · 1970s 6
Italy	28	26	1970–1983	1980s 1 · 1970s 27
Vietnam	22	22	2002–2017	2010s 8 · 2000s 14

How complete is this?

Data basis: 4,399 of our 28,638 models carry a country at all – 55 % of the 1968–1999 releases, but only 1 % from 2000 on. These lists therefore show what is printed on the bases we have recorded. They are not a production record and say nothing about where Hot Wheels are made today.

Decade	Models	With a country	Share
1960s	374	266	71 %
1970s	933	388	42 %
1980s	1,251	830	66 %
1990s	4,154	2,179	52 %
2000s	4,339	140	3 %
2010s	8,241	159	2 %
2020s	8,224	5	0 %

Where this comes from: the country is taken from the model pages of the Hot Wheels Wiki community (CC BY-SA 3.0). The counting, the year ranges and the grouping of spellings such as “HK” or “Raised Malaysia” under one country are our own work – the original wiki value stays next to the country on every model page. Sources & licenses · Wheel types on the base

Frequently asked questions

Where are Hot Wheels made?

We answer this only from our own records, and only for the cars whose base we have recorded: Malaysia 1,679, China 1,368, Hong Kong 668, USA 248, Thailand 226, France 55, Mexico 39, Italy 28, Vietnam 22. Almost all of these entries fall between 1968 and 1999 – from 2000 on the field is filled for just 1 % of our models, so we make no claim about today's production.

My car says “Hong Kong” – how old is it?

In our data all 668 models with Hong Kong on the base fall in 1968–1991, and only 3 of them from 1990 on. See the full list.

Were Hot Wheels made in France?

Yes: 55 of our records carry France on the base, and every one falls in 1982–1987 – the shortest and most clearly dated group in our data. All 55 models.

Are there Hot Wheels made in the USA?

In our records 248 models carry USA on the base, all from 1968–1976 – the early Redline years. That is the subset whose base we have recorded, not a complete Redline list: for those same years we hold many more models whose country field is empty. All 248 models.

Malaysia or China – which came first?

In our records Malaysia starts in 1982 and China in 1990, and both run on in parallel through the 1990s. That is why the country alone does not date a car from those years – the date code on the base and the toy number do. All years.

This page last changed: Sep 27, 2026. The Hot Wheels database behind it is our own and is updated daily – releases from 1968 onwards plus our own unboxing videos.