EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 14, 2026--
Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT), a leading global play and family entertainment company and owner of one of the world’s most iconic brand portfolios, today announced the 2026 winner of the Hot Wheels™ Legends Tour presented by Mobil 1, the world’s largest traveling car show and global custom car competition. At the November 14 Global Grand Finale, Matt McEntegart’s custom 1979 Chevrolet El Camino, which began its journey by winning the Tampa stop, was crowned the global champion. The victory marks the first time a U.S. entry has won the global title since 2022. The one-of-a-kind creation will now be inducted into the Hot Wheels Garage of Legends™ and transformed by the Hot Wheels ® design team into an official 1:64-scale die-cast collectible sold worldwide.
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McEntegart’s custom 1979 Chevrolet El Camino, nicknamed the “SS Monte Mino,” combines elements of three iconic Chevrolet vehicles: the El Camino, Monte Carlo SS and sixth-generation Corvette. Built over thousands of hours, the project involved mounting the El Camino body onto a modified 2008 Corvette chassis and stretching the wheelbase by 12 inches. Reflecting the creativity, authenticity and garage spirit of the Hot Wheels Legends Tour, McEntegart designed and fabricated nearly every aspect of the vehicle himself. The process involved shaping foam prototypes, creating molds and fabricating a custom Monte Carlo-inspired widebody, finished in rich maroon paint with red-tinted forged carbon fiber panels that capture the distinctive styling of a Hot Wheels car.
Beneath its custom hood, the El Camino features a modified Chevrolet V8 engine with exposed velocity stacks and several performance upgrades. A custom air suspension system allows the vehicle to sit exceptionally low over massive 22-inch wheels. Inside, the bespoke cabin blends retro 1980s styling with modern Corvette technology, featuring custom upholstery and interior components handcrafted by McEntegart.
Ted Wu, General Manager and Global Head of Vehicles and Building Sets at Mattel, said: “What makes Hot Wheels Legends Tour so special is its ability to bring automotive communities together and celebrate the incredible talent of builders around the world. Matt’s El Camino stood out for its bold design and craftsmanship, and we’re honored to turn his passion project into an official Hot Wheels die-cast car for fans to play and collect around the world.”
The 2026 Hot Wheels Legends Tour traveled to 19 countries, including 12 stops across North America, bringing together thousands of custom vehicles from around the world. Hot Wheels designers and local automotive experts evaluated entries based on authenticity, creativity and garage spirit. Winners from local Tour stops advanced to their respective regional finals, with champions from North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Latin America (LATAM) and Asia-Pacific (APAC) competing in the Global Grand Finale, where McEntegart ultimately took home the top honor.
The 2026 Hot Wheels Legends Tour runners-up included Sandranto Hertanu, aka Achun Owen, of Indonesia, Andrea Cionco of Italy and Andres Romero Maureira of Chile. Hertanu transformed a 1961 Morris Mini Van into a custom pickup, while Cionco reimagined a 1990 Mazda MX-5 NA with Japanese-inspired widebody styling. Romero Maureira rounded out the finalists with his 1992 Chevrolet Salaya SP, a purpose-built race car powered by a 450-horsepower V8 engine.
Since its launch in 2018 to celebrate Hot Wheels’ 50th anniversary, the Hot Wheels Legends Tour presented by Mobil 1 has grown from a U.S.-based series of local Walmart events into the world’s largest traveling car show and global custom car competition, attracting builders and automotive fans through live and virtual 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, 2023-winning 1990 Mazda MX-5 roadster nicknamed “Chimera,” 2024-winning custom-built 1968 Ford Falcon nicknamed “La Liebre,” and 2025-winning rally-inspired Fiat 126P Bis from Poland.
To learn more about the Hot Wheels Legends Tour, visit www.HotWheels.com/Legends.
About Mattel
Mattel is a leading global play and family entertainment company and owner of one of the most iconic brand portfolios in the world. We engage consumers and fans through our franchise brands, including Barbie®, Hot Wheels®, Fisher-Price®, American Girl®, Thomas & Friends™, UNO®, Masters of the Universe®, Matchbox®, Monster High®, Polly Pocket®, as well as other popular properties that we own or license in partnership with global entertainment companies. Our offerings include toys, content, consumer products, digital and live experiences. Our products are sold in collaboration with the world’s leading retail and ecommerce companies. Since its founding in 1945, Mattel is proud to be a trusted partner in empowering generations to explore the wonder of childhood and reach their full potential. Visit us at mattel.com.
Hot Wheels Crowns 2026 Legends Tour Winner Following Global Search Across 19 Countries
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has had a lot to say about his thinking on the way ahead in the Iran war since Republicans were trounced in last week's midterm elections.
In exchanges with reporters, broadcast interviews and social media posts since Election Day, he's somehow managed to back away from carrying out additional strikes while also backing away from the prospect of additional talks with the Islamic Republic's negotiators on ending the 8-month-old conflict.
The president acknowledged on the day after the midterms that the war and the global economic tumult it's caused were partly to blame for Republicans' electoral losses, while maintaining it was the right thing to do.
Then, at the start of this week, he huddled with Qatar's prime minister at the White House and afterward told reporters that he believed it was highly unlikely he'd need to order new major strikes on Iran, declaring that the war “militarily is effectively over.”
But by Thursday, he was again raising questions about whether he needed to rush to find an endgame. He declared that the U.S. no longer needs a deal with Tehran and brusquely directed Vice President JD Vance — who served as his chief negotiator in earlier peace talks with Iran — to shift his attention to the administration's domestic anti-fraud campaign targeting Democrat-controlled cities and states.
All the while, Trump warned Iran that the U.S. military is “locked and loaded” and keeping an eye on Pickaxe Mountain, a facility linked to Iran’s nuclear program, for signs of activity.
“If something does not work out, I would not hesitate" to act, Trump told conservative broadcaster Hugh Hewitt on Thursday.
Trump's tonal shifts have only added to the uncertainty about what comes next in a war in which America's allies were not consulted before it was started but nonetheless struggle to deal with its economic ramifications.
“President Trump is now acting like an arsonist who has set ablaze our foreign policy,” Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said in an interview Friday on the sidelines of the Democrats’ postelection gathering in Denver. “And now he just wants to walk away.”
The president's ambiguous positioning on the war is expected to loom large during a visit next week to the Philippines and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in the Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen.
While in Shenzhen, Trump will hold an unprecedented three-way summit with China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin. Trump is expected to discuss Iran and the three powers' nuclear stockpiles with Xi and Putin.
The White House declined to comment directly to queries on Trump's postelection rhetoric on Iran. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio underscored that Trump's approach is leading to the Iranian economy collapsing.
“The economic pain that we are inflicting on that regime is so great that there’s no need for military action because we’ve weakened them so much,” Rubio said in a Friday evening speech to the Federalist Society.
Chief mediator Qatar continues to try to negotiate an interim agreement that would restore traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital passageway for the flow of oil and natural gas from the Persian Gulf to global markets, while leaving open options for further discussions between the U.S. and Iran.
But those efforts are now clouded by uncertainty following Trump’s shifting — and sometimes contradictory — comments, according to two Middle East diplomats familiar with the process.
The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the situation had appeared to be on the right track earlier this week after Qatar’s prime minister met with Trump.
But Trump's social media post Thursday declaring that the U.S. doesn't need a deal with Iran and directing Vance “to focus his complete and total attention” on his anti-fraud campaign has created a sense of limbo.
One of the diplomats said the post raised questions about why Trump appeared to be sidelining Vance, who was skeptical about launching the war but ultimately supported Trump.
Trump's post came as Vance had been weighing a possible reengagement with senior Iranian negotiators, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The president posted his message calling on Vance to steer away from Iran negotiations the morning after The Wall Street Journal reported Vance was thinking about resuming talks. Trump — who had been aware of Vance's deliberations — believed the Iranians weren't acting in good faith, the person added.
Trump is also increasingly confident that he can credibly declare that he's achieved his military objectives in the war.
But traversing the Strait of Hormuz remains treacherous. The United Nations reports October had the highest number of incidents against commercial ships in the contested waters since February.
Still, Trump believes that with oil shipments through the strait reaching near-prewar levels, he could potentially leave it to Gulf countries to negotiate a deal with the Iranians on governing the critical waterway, the person said.
The other regional diplomat described the push for peace as falling into a holding pattern as people await clarification from the White House on Trump’s intentions.
That diplomat added it was not entirely clear to mediators or the Iranians if Trump’s comments meant he was abandoning a negotiated agreement or was just posturing after the congressional midterm elections that cost his Republican Party control of Congress.
Iran remains unwilling to engage in negotiations over its nuclear program until the U.S. agrees to several core conditions that Iran has been demanding be part of any ceasefire agreement.
Differences with Iran over its nuclear activities remain the thorniest issue and one that Trump insists must be resolved as part of any deal meant to end the war.
Tehran's rhetoric has hardly cooled. Iran’s deputy U.N. ambassador Gholamhossein Darzi told the United Nations Security Council on Friday that Iran “has never closed the door to diplomacy.” But he warned that should the U.S. or Israel return to bombing, his country would offer “an immediate and decisive response.”
Rubio earlier this week stressed that the U.S. is not opposed to mediators continuing their efforts.
“If there’s a deal to be done, the president will be the first one to be in favor of it," Rubio said. "But it’s not going to be a stupid deal. It’s not going to be a bad deal.”
Michael Singh, managing director at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said he expects the status quo to persist for some time, with the U.S. and Iran locked in a stalemate over the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. continuing its monthslong naval blockade that's curbing the flow of Iranian crude to the global market.
Singh said the American strategy of squeezing Iran economically is a far more attractive option for Trump than military escalation or making concessions to Tehran.
He also suggested Trump could always reverse his position on Vance engaging with Iranians if the president finds the Iranians are ready to seriously negotiate.
“It’s probably the most sensible path as well to sort of be patient, keep the pressure on, allow the mediators to keep doing their work,” said Singh, who worked on Middle East issues in former President George W. Bush's White House. “And when the time is right, but not before then, is when you want to engage senior officials like the vice president and so forth.”
Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed reporting.
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance attend a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on National Veterans Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance attend a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on National Veterans Day Observance at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
FILE - President Donald Trump talks with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after a roundtable on criminal cartels in the State Dining Room of the White House, Oct. 23, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
