As was teased yesterday, and then unveiled on our favorite Brazilian website, Hot Wheels is releasing the VW Caddy, or VW Rabbit Pickup as it is known in some parts:
As expected, collectors love it. And what is not to love? A classic, but more obscure VW, complete with bolt-ons and a skateboard in back. This is clearly a passion project, but from which designer? The obvious choice would be Jun Imai, who has infused this style into many of his castings, JDM or not. Or it could be the new resident cool car guy Ryu Asada, who has given us the ’90 Honda Civic and Porsche 934.
But it is neither of them. The VW Caddy was designed the Mattel VP of Wheels himself, Felix Holst, who revealed his design on Instagram. We know from his time at Matchbox through today, Felix is as passionate a car guy as there is at Mattel, so this is really cool to see. We will try to get the backstory on this model, but there really is no need. This is an instant Cool is Cool is Cool.
But that isn’t all. The German theme apparently continues. Photos have surfaced of what appears to be another new Hot Wheels casting for 2015, the BMW M4:
So it looks like the BMW/Mattel love affair continues. Let’s see, Matchbox did the 1M/M1, Hot Wheels the M3 and now the M4, and Matchbox is doing an M5 Police. Not to mention all the other classics and racers we have seen in the last few years. Lucrative this license is…
Knew it…
The VW is an instant winner in my book. A perfect compliment to the Datsun pick-up from last year. I actually like this Caddy more than the Datsun. Call me a fanboy or whatever but the VW is more special to me than the 620 (which is overrated to be honest). The M4 on the other hand, was out of the blue. Although obvious amidst the myriad of BMWs released during recent couple of years including 3 versions of the M3 itself, I did not expect HW to do an M4 this early. But glad they did it! Cannot wait to see its final reveal and finally get my hands on it.
Overrated it what way exactly? You prefer EDM to JDM?
I see VW Caddies on a regular basis on the road still today, and tons of them at shows.. you know what I never see? a Datsun 620.
Not hating just curious as to why you think that arguable one of the rarest and coolest JDM pickups of all time as a HW casting is overrated.
Now thats more like it, I really like teh VW, a great deal, even with the wide arches and no front bumper, it just oozes appeal to be modded, and i am sure we will see some stunning made up cars, the Beemer, MEH !, not really a Beemer fan, the 2002 is the only one i like, both in diecast and real, the bmw 4-series, is nothing more than a rebranded 3-series coupe,
Can't wait to see the orange caddy and some variations of it, the wheel swaps will be cool too. Kind of meh about the M4 personally.
I'm talking about the Hot Wheels version, mate. Not the real thing. Of course I know how special the real 620 is and what it means to some people. Its the El Camino of Japan.
Which batch will they be? Excellent work!
VW is a great new casting, nice to know a top guy done it as maybe we keep on that track of realism. Listen I remeber being a kid and I would usually seek out what I seen on the street. Today most kids can not relate to cars of yesterday. The Burners as their called are cool and have their own place but mainly because the auto industry gives us nothing spectacular anymore. Other than the Mustang,Camaro,Challenger & Charger there hasn't been much to celebrate. The BMWs continue to look a like.. The problem is todays autos have no pizzazz, if it isn't high end it's blah! I'm not much for todays cars guess that's why I'm a truck guy. As a kid I was impressed by every cars that passed by. It's like if every human looked alike It would be boring same with cars and that is where we are. My kids don't even see cars on the street unless it's a Camaro,Vette,Challenger,Stang or Charger. They get extremely excited if they see an exotic like a Lambo or GT40 and some others they rarely pop up. I love when HW MB reproduce autos of yesteryear but kids might not buy in and that hurts the hobby in the long run.
I'm glad to see that the rear track of the Caddy isn't wider in the rear than the front, as the middle photo makes it seem.
Although it's a little difficult to tell on the M4 if the rear wheels are larger, I'm going to go ahead and assume they will be. That way I won't be too unhappy if they are, and overly so if they aren't.
I hope there are more BMWs in the future. As a recent entry into German cars with a purchase of a late model E30 325i, more BMWs will never get old.
Now, about the E28 M5 I know Mattel can knock out of the park if they were to make one…
*Overly happy if the M4 has the same size wheels all the way around.
Nice to see a caddy – lots of potential for customisation and will be a sure fire hit with adult collectors, specially the fanatical VW set. The proportions are slightly out – the frontal treatment lacks that cleanness as seen on the Hare splitter but this is the kind of thing I want to see more of! I'd love to see some more Euro saloons, maybe a mk2 escort, Hillman Avenger (Plymouth Cricket/VW 1500) or Triumph Dolomite? They may not be a huge seller in the states but those will fly off the shelves elsewhere.
Ah it's a Caddy! It looks as though it has been nicely done, I'm certainly looking forward to finding it, along with the variants. For I have to say that I am struggling to find anything interesting on the pegs at the moment. I think the 2015 range is a little slow in coming through, here at least.
Cool is cool is cool