In conjunction with Mattel Malaysia’s 40th anniversary, the company responsible for making Hot Wheels cars at its plant in Penang for global markets has revealed it will collaborate with Proton for the first time, which will see the carmaker’s first model, the 1985 Saga, being made into a 1:64 scale diecast model.
Also known as the Saga Orion due to the 4G13 1.3 litre four-cylinder engine from the Orion series powering it, the original Saga was launched in Malaysia on July 9, 1985 by fourth prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was also responsible for founding the carmaker.
“This is an exciting license partnership as we join to develop a Hot Wheels car, modelled after the original Proton Saga, the first model manufactured by Proton, which will now become a part of the Hot Wheels singles collection,” said Steve Totzke, president and CCO of Mattel Inc, the parent company of Mattel Malaysia (MMSB), in a report by Bernama.
“This license partnership aims to uphold the proud legacies of both Mattel and Proton to continue to provide high-quality vehicles to fans of all ages worldwide,” he added. The Saga Hot Wheels is expected to start shipping and be sold worldwide by the end of next year.
The announced collaboration also coincides with a separate announcement by Mattel Malaysia that it would expand its plant, which is expected to be completed in January next year. This will be pivotal in the company’s plan to increase production capacity by an expected 20% by 2025 from the current average of nine million units per week.
“Today, we celebrate and reaffirm our long-term presence in Malaysia. Over the last 40 years, we have succeeded in developing a thriving ecosystem for the local industry in the Perai Free Industrial Zone across industries such as packaging, paint, material supplies, and machine design,” commented Ching Chiau Lee, general manager of MMSB.
“MMSB plays an important role in our global supply chain operations, providing a strategic footprint in the region and supporting our transformation strategy for growth as an IP-driven, high-performing toy company. We are excited for our future as we continue to exemplify progress in the technology-driven Malaysian manufacturing sector,” she added.
For budding collectors, are you looking forward to getting your hands on the Saga Hot Wheels? What other Proton cars do you think should be made into a diecast model as well? List them out in the comments below.
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1. Iriz R3 racing car /livery
2. Silver Satria GTi
3. Black Satria R3
4. Lotus green Satria Neo
5. Proton Waja
6. That purple Satria convertible (it’s hotwheels Afterall)
PROTON WIRA
P2 fanbois must be crying out and beating their chests of this injustice for not picking their deathtrap coffin myvi instead of this supposedly-dead-but-rose-like-phoenix-burning-P1 haters-renaissance-true-national-carmaker-brand!
Don’t forget about Proton Arena, Gen-2, Juara & Tiara as well.
If the logo can light up like the original car I will buy.
Getting worse from having doors and suspension to play with, to now not even bother to paint the light, logo and body trim
Do you know the term: prototype?
All of it should be made as HW models
I know its impossible but i really wish Tomica would make them instead of hotwheels. For the same range and scale Tomica built much ‘cleaner’ model. Still, i like Hotwheels paint quality more than Tomica. If Tomica make them under TLVN or Premium range, even better, a sure buy for me.
For this hotwheels model…its a ‘maybe’for me. What else i want them to make? Everything.
I think they should make Gen-2. It’s the first Proton that was fully developed ground up including engine – Campro, by Proton. That is the first true blue Proton, not Saga or even Waja.
Sadly, we might not see any true blue Proton anymore. Mostly rebadge of Geely’s model after this.
Satria GTI please…..
Perodua Myvi jangan dilupakan, king of the road tu boohhh
with technology so advance nowadays, how hard can it be for them to produce local car models? be it 1/64, 1/43 or even 1/18.. definitely piece of cake for these manufacturers.. it’s a matter whether they want/intend to make or not only
Hopefully this will be a mass market model and not some limited edition limited time sale special car that will be scalper heaven like recent Shell-Ferrari remote control car collections.
Good grief. That’s the most half-hearted attempt for syiok sendiri buyers 30+ years too late. Might as well not!
This is the type of art that invokes notalgic memories with my old car, I hope there will be Iswara Papilio too, a very good move by Mattel Malaysia, and speaking about metal, this will definitely go well with Black Sabbath, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, Overkill and Testament.
All models of proton and perodua
Will only sedan variants will be sold in hot wheels . What about the Proton Saga Aeroback.