Jun Imai studied at Art Center College of Design before joining Hot Wheels in 2004. From 2004, until he left Mattel in 2018, he has designed hundreds of cars for the diecast lines.
In 2012, he left diecast to lead HW Innovation and RC Design, and returned in summer 2014 as Manager of HW Diecast Design.
A few of his favorite designs include: Mad Manga, Nissan Skyline GT-X “Hakosuka”, Nissan Skyline 2000GTR “Kenmeri”, Datsun 510, ’71 Datsun Bluebird Wagon, Mazda RX-7, Toyota 2000GT, Datsun 620, BMW 2002, ’66 Dodge A100, ’69 Mustang Boss 302, ’77 Pontiac Firebird T/A, ’83 Chevy Silverado, Porsche 935/78, Porsche 911 (993) GT2, Driftsta, Datsun Fairlady 2000, Custom Datsun 240Z “Fugu Z”.
Aside from HW’s, he enjoys spending time with his family, running 5K’s, skateboarding, and tearing up L.A. streets with his modified Datsun 510 Wagon, 260ZG, and Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2.
What more can be said about the Hot Wheels #Datsun Bluebird 510 and its meteoric rise to collector favorite? The casting has achieved so much in seemingly a short amount of time considering it was introduced less than 10 years ago. For the first 4 years or so, […]
Year to year, its always fun to see what mainline series Hot Wheels collectors gravitate to. There are segments like #Muscle Mania and the #Night Burnerz that are perennially collector favorites. However, its always that new “underdog” segment that fascinates me. I have a good grasp on what […]
Raise your hand if you’re loving these personally licensed Hot Wheels cars that have been appearing as of late. So far we have seen cars owned and driven by #Magnus Walker, #Sung Kang, Hot Wheels designers #Jun Imai and #Brendon Vetuskey, and even, Hot Wheels collector Roy de […]
How has your luck been with finding the #’69 Dodge Charger Daytona from the Hot Wheels #Retro Style Series? Considering how well stock moves at your local Target may have been a factor as this series was a #Target Exclusive. However, that wasn’t the only factor that limited […]
Just three months ago, Hot Wheels collectors from around the world converged upon Los Angeles for the #31st Annual Collectors Convention. There collectors were treated to a series of collector- & kid-oriented events, sneak peeks from Mattel and a variety of exclusive #Convention Vehicles. With the recent success […]
One of, if not the most, popular #2017 New Models was the #Volkswagen T2 Pickup. It should come as no surprise that we are about to see this new release of the popular #Flatbed Hauler, starting with the #2018 Hot Wheels “E” case assortment, in the #HW Hot […]
Arguably the best #2017 New Model is the long-overdue, #’95 Madza RX-7. For the last decade or so, collectors have had this popular rotary sports car at the top of their wishlists and this year, the fine folks at Hot Wheels finally obliged as this #First Edition of […]
The Hot Wheels 5-Pack binge continues as I’ve bought yet another. Just like how I bought the HW City Works 5-Pack for the Turbine Time, I bought the #Muscle Mania 5-Pack (2017) because I collect one of the vehicles in it, the #’69 Dodge Charger Daytona. I’ll be […]
October is right around the corner and that means that another great Hot Wheels #Halloween series is hitting the pegs. There have been a few great releases over the last couple of years but this year Hot Wheels stepped it up by creating a new wheel altogether. The […]
Some Hot Wheels collectors believe that the Hot Wheels #Pop Culture line has gotten stale with repetitive themes plastered all over the sides of repeat castings. While that may be true to some extent, its the new, one-off series that are the real test. The freshly released, #MAD […]
ORANGE TRACK DIECAST 