Photo courtesy lamleydlm.blogspot.com.
For more than 15 years, fans of Ferrari diecast had only one diecast company to turn to for models of their favorites: Hot Wheels. But this is to change, and in fairly short order: May Cheong group, makers of the Bburago and Maisto diecast lines, have inked an exclusive worldwide agreement to make Ferrari models, in a variety of scales, starting in January 2015. Mattel had previously issued a statement that their licensing agreement was ending, but its wording didn’t make clear whether it was only on selected lines, or for the entirety of the Hot Wheels brand. Maisto/Bburago’s statement clarifies things considerably.
There is some irony here, or at the very least a comeuppance. Bburago, then an Italian company, was the innovator of 1/18 scale collector models in the early 1980s, with subject matter relying heavily on home-market sports cars, like Ferraris. The makers of both the real and the replica Ferraris felt a kinship and, dare we say it, a shared national pride. But when Mattel scored an exclusive license with Ferrari in the late 1990s, Bburago’s Ferrari tooling could no longer be used. That, along with the explosion of cost-efficient Chinese manufacturing, helped ensure that Bburago went under in the mid-2000s.
Bburago was purchased by the May Cheong Group of Hong Kong in 2005, and the name is slowly regaining its prominence. May Cheong Group sells cars under the Maisto name worldwide. Maisto models often remain toys, in the traditional sense, while Bburago-marketed models tend to be more collector-oriented.
The 1/18 scale game has moved on in the nearly-two-decades since Bburago had to stop making Ferrari models. It will be interesting to see whether the vintage tools will be revived, whether there will be a variety of new tools on offer, or, as we suspect, that some combination of both will be in play.
Short-term, there may be a paucity of Ferrari diecast on shelves around the world as one contract plays out and another company gears up to make models; this could render some models a big deal on the secondary market, creating a shortage (however artificial it may seem).
More gadget review in www.mamaktalk.com
