Hot Wheels Fiesta: Big Hit for Big Kids
Another co-branded concept car heats up SEMA auto show.
The Hot Wheels Fiesta was one of several Ford co-branded concepts to hit this year’s SEMA showroom floor.
The Hot Wheels Fiesta was one of several Ford co-branded concepts to hit this year’s SEMA showroom floor.
By Brian O’Connor
At the November Specialty Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas, a Ford Fiesta that was decked out like a Hot Wheels® toy retro-ride struck a nostalgic yet vibrant chord among car collectors of a certain vintage. The outsize version of a little slice of the past provided present-day proof that playroom toys can grow up with their fan base.
The 2012 Hot Wheels Ford Fiesta is the result of a relationship between Mattel and Ford Custom Industries and is constructed to look like one of the miniature cars that began gaining popularity in the early ’70s. With its fiery decals and a skull and crossbones, the Fiesta sport sedan drives boomers back to their playground glory days in style.
The Ford Racing suspension and exhaust give the 2012 Fiesta muscle car power, while the 18-inch Motegi Racing® wheels packaged with Eagle F1 Ultra Performance tires provide on-road agility.
For Fiesta Marketing Manager Sherryl Brightwell, such brand cooperation holds great promise. “Hot Wheels is trying to bridge the gap between boys and adult car collectors,” she says. “Hopefully we can grow this relationship with Mattel over the next year, as they bring up their age demographic and we bring ours down to the millennial, and then we meet in the middle.”
The resulting buzz burning up the blogosphere backs up the two brands' expected enthusiasm from the boomer audience and reinforces the value of Ford’s ongoing effort to develop meaningful brand relationships.
Take the dazzling F-350 Super Duty brush truck (with a head-raising 10-inch lift and whopping 41-inch, all-terrain Interco IROK tires), which is the result of a team effort by Superlift®, Matchbox® and Ford.
“The fire truck–Matchbox project really shows the versatility of the Super Duty,” says Ford/SEMA Manager Sherry Kollien, referring to what could possibly be the world’s most muscled brush truck. Other combinations, like the high-performance Mustang built to bring awareness to the Fallen and Wounded Soldiers Fund, or the Capaldi Racing Focus, have similarly leveraged respective brand assets.
Good things may come in small packages—but for grown-up car fans, Ford knows bigger packages and meaningful partners provide even happier returns.
