Hot Wheels crowns ‘La Liebre’ from Chile as 2024 Global Legends Tour Winner, soon to be reimagined as a Hot Wheels die-cast car sold worldwide [Photo Gallery]

Mattel, Inc (NASDAQ: MAT), a leading global toy and family entertainment company and owner of one of the most iconic brand portfolios in the world, announced the 2024 winner of the Hot Wheels Legends Tour, the world’s largest travelling car show, during the virtual Global Grand Finale held on November 16. After taking home the top spot during the 2024 Chilean tour stop, a home-built race car, nicknamed La Liebre, secured the global victory and will be inducted into the Hot Wheels Garage of Legends. The Hot Wheels design team will now transform the life-sized car into a die-cast car for collectors and fans to enjoy in 1:64 scale.

In 2013, Giuseppe Casagrande and Maurizio Moschini co-founded Cars and Coffee Chile as a nonprofit organization to grow the car community and culture in Chile. The La Liebre project began as a method of promoting their organisation and engaging local automotive enthusiasts. After acquiring the Falcon, a custom-built Chevrolet 350 motor producing 600 horsepower was installed and mated to a Saenz 910 five-speed transmission with straight cut gears. The original chassis was heavily modified by Baufer Garage and currently consists of a tubular frame and roll cage. The La Liebre weighs just over 900kg, thanks to the tube chassis and custom fibreglass body that was developed to maximise aerodynamics. A blend of classic style and modern performance, designed for pure speed, the La Liebre impressed and inspired the judges not only with its looks but its role in the Chilean automotive community.

The Cars and Coffee Chile team behind La Liebre includes Giuseppe Casagrade, Maurizio Moschini, Pablo Olmos, Omar Aguilar, Nicolás Orellana and Jose Ignacio Barra.

“This year’s Hot Wheels Legends Tour brought out so many incredible builds, making it difficult to select just one, however, the mission behind the La Liebre built by Cars & Coffee Chile was emblematic of what the tour is all about,” said Ted Wu, senior vice president and global head of design, vehicles and building sets at Mattel. “Not only is it an extremely impressive build, but it was created to help grow the car community in Chile and inspire others to participate. That’s what makes this vehicle, and the team behind it, deserving of the win and entry into the Hot Wheels Garage of Legends.”

Celebrating car builders and enthusiasts around the world in their drive to be legendary, the 2024 Hot Wheels Legends Tour travelled through 13 countries with 11 regional stops in the United States. New Tour stops for 2024 included visits to Colombia and the United Arab Emirates. The Hot Wheels team and local automotive personalities evaluated more than 5,000 vehicle entries with millions of event attendees around the world. The UK’s finalist, ‘Mentley’ – a modified Mini, was selected for the Global Grand Finale, the fourth consecutive year a UK entrant has reached the final stage.

Since its launch in 2018 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Hot Wheels, the Hot Wheels Legends Tour presented by Mobil 1 has grown from an U.S.-based series of local Walmart events to the world’s largest traveling car show, bringing in builders and automotive fans through both virtual and live events. Previous champions include the inaugural 2018-winning 2JetZ™, 2019-winning THE NASH™, 2020-winning 1970 Pontiac® Firebird™, 2021-winning 1969 Volvo P1800 Gasser, 2022-winning “Texas Toot,” an ultra-custom 1992 Autozam Scrum micro truck and last year’s champion, a one of a kind 1990 Mazda MX-5 roadster nicknamed “Chimera.”

To learn more about the Hot Wheels Legends Tour, visit www.HotWheels.com/Legends.