After the deluge of news and new castings at the Gathering every year, there’s always a bit of a lull for new Matchbox news. Now, we’re slowly starting to see some new recolors and prototypes of upcoming models previewed on the Matchbox Instagram, so it’s time for a bit of catch-up.
Let’s start with the model that seems to be causing the most buzz – the new Maserati MC12. The MC12 seems to be experiencing a bit of a resurgence in the diecast world, as both BBR and Matchbox have new MC12 castings after nearly two decades of the car being ignored by the world’s diecast manufacturers (Hot Wheels made a short lived MC12 casting back in 2005). We saw a 3D printed prototype of this new Matchbox version at the Gathering, but this is our first time seeing it in diecast. It looks pretty good, with a lot of detailing in the vents and around the doors, though I do worry that the front end looks a little too tall (it reminds me of the Moving Parts Aventador SVJ Roadster). The casting’s design is clever – it uses the plastic base piece to form the rear spoiler, which should make this one of the only modern mainline models to have a plastic spoiler!
The new BMW M2 is the sneak I’m personally most excited about. A fitting spiritual successor to the BMW 1M casting from a decade ago, this M2 was also featured at the Gathering, albeit without any printed detailing. This new version looks production-ready, with detailed headlights, grille, badges, and even a black roof! We don’t get a good view of the rear of this casting, but it looks to me like the brake light is a bit darker red than the casting, which hopefully means it has full rear detailing as well. This casting’s bulging hood and flared rear wheel arches both look very cool, though I do worry that this M2 looks a tad big compared to the cars around it. I’ll take a more in-depth look at this casting once it’s released – hopefully it’s not as big as an M5!
After a couple of sub-par decos, I’m ecstatic to see the ND Miata casting returning to stock form in a lovely shade of dark green. Interestingly, I don’t believe that green has ever been offered on the ND Miata, but I’m certainly not complaining, as this metallic shade looks gorgeous, and the tan interior makes it a perfect pairing to the premium Hot Wheels NA Miata from last year.
Hot on the heels of the Lexus LX Moving Parts casting, we have the new Lexus GX debuting in beige with lots of detailing. The front and sides both get full printed detailing, though unfortunately we don’t get a good look at the back. There’s one picture where the corner of what looks like a red brake light is visible, so hopefully that means the rear is at least partially detailed as well. I’m a little concerned about the poor color match and fitment on the doors of this model though…recent Moving Parts releases have been making big improvements to fit and finish on the opening doors, but this model looks like a step backward. Hopefully the color match is improved by the time this casting makes it to production.
The debut release of the Chevy C1500 was massively popular with collectors, and its one-per-case distribution made it hard to come by, so I’m glad to see another clean-deco release coming soon. This dark red looks good, and I’m glad to see this model retain its chrome base, as that’s a big part of what made the debut beige version so popular.
Like the MC12, we saw a 3D printed prototype of this BMW 7 Series a few months ago, and now we get to see the diecast version. Unfortunately, it looks like it lost a bit of the crispness in the grille and headlight section of the casting, but hopefully the final version will have printed detailing to help improve the look. I really like the proportions of this casting so far, and the detailing on the seats looks quite nice as well.
We also got a look at the first Moving Parts mix of 2025, with the surprise highlight being this gray Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo. The card art makes the car look metallic, almost chrome, but the car itself appears to be flat gray (a far more fitting color if you ask me).
Mix 1 will also feature this dark blue recolor of the Alfa Romeo Stelvio – a casting that I liked far more than I expected to! I figured this car’s next recolor would be either green or black, but the blue looks great too!
The mystery Jeep from the 2025 line preview turns out to be a Moving Parts model rather than a Collectors series model, which should make it easier to find. I’m still not crazy about the steel wheels on this release, but how can you pass up a National Parks livery?
The Toyota Century is debuting in a very classy black-and-chrome combo, and it appears to be fully detailed on all four sides. I particularly like the chrome door handles that contrast nicely with the black paint. My only concerns on this model are the possible lack of an interior (I can’t tell because of the window tint) and the grille detailing, which looks to suffer from some of the dot-matrix grain that is common on Hot Wheels premiums, but if that’s what it takes to get a fully detailed model like this, I’ll take it.
The Infiniti QX80 only just hit shelves in its debut gray, but it looks to already be getting a recolor in dark red! I was surprised by how much I liked this casting, though I wonder how much recolor potential it will have. I’ll happily collect a whole rainbow of Porsche 911s, but I don’t see myself collecting a whole rainbow of QX80s.
Finally, we have what look to be Red Editions of both the Honda N600 and Chevy C10. Given the hype around the teal version of the C10, I suspect this red edition will be another hard one to track down!
There’s already lots of new releases to be excited for in the coming months, and I’ll be sure to keep you updated as we see additional sneaks. In the meantime, be sure to keep an eye on the list of upcoming Matchbox models to help you keep track of everything that’s coming!
diecastleno.com 
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