Hot Wheels Legends Tour 2025 Winner Revealed: Fiat 126B
Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT), the global toy and family entertainment company behind one of the world’s most iconic brand portfolios, has announced the 2025 Hot Wheels Legends Tour winner, confirming the Fiat 126B as the latest star of the world’s largest travelling car show. During the virtual Global Grand Finale on 15 November, the judges selected Paweł Czarnecki’s custom FIAT 126B, which began its journey by winning the Poland Tour stop, as the global champion. Hot Wheels will now induct the car into the Hot Wheels Garage of Legends™, and the Hot Wheels design team will transform it into a 1:64-scale die-cast collectable that will go on sale worldwide.
Poland never hosted an official Group B rally event, yet Czarnecki created his Fiat 126B to attack the kind of tight, technical stages that the Carpathian Mountains might have offered. He invested more than 2,500 hours of hands-on work and a further 800 hours in 3D-printed components to shape his vision of a Polish rally hero. The finished car embodies the “Garage Spirit” mentality that Hot Wheels Legends Tour judges look for in every entry, from its dramatically widened stance and flip-forward front section to functional aerodynamic features that pay tribute to 1980s rally design while delivering real performance on both asphalt and gravel.
Although compact, the Fiat delivers serious, performance-focused power. Czarnecki fitted a Fiat Uno 1.4 Turbo producing 200 horsepower, combined it with a Nissan 200SX GT28 turbocharger and paired the setup with a built Fiat Punto GT gearbox to create rally-ready performance in a small package. The car features a custom coilover suspension, a body widened by 18.5 inches (47 cm), period-correct HTN Motorsport three-piece wheels, Fiat Uno brakes, a flip-forward bonnet for rapid repairs and adjustments, and a full roll cage, and it blends historical inspiration with modern fabrication to bring this Polish rally vision to life.
“From its roots in the U.S. to stops across 16 countries, the Hot Wheels Legends Tour has grown into a truly global celebration of creativity and the automotive community,” said Ted Wu, global head of vehicles and building sets at Mattel. “Car enthusiasts in Poland have shown incredible support for the Tour over the years, and Paweł Czarnecki’s custom Fiat exemplifies the talent and imagination that fans from Poland — and around the world — bring to the Hot Wheels Legends Tour.” Wu’s comments highlight how the Hot Wheels Legends Tour winner from Poland reflects both local passion and international car culture.
This year, the Hot Wheels Legends Tour introduced a new winner selection process to deepen global engagement. Each participating region, including the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Latin America (LATAM), hosted its own regional final. Three regional champions then advanced to compete in the Hot Wheels Legends Tour Global Grand Finale, where judges chose the 2025 Hot Wheels Legends Tour winner.
The 2025 Hot Wheels Legends Tour runners-up underlined the diversity of custom car culture. U.S. regional finalist Clint DeVine showcased a Chevy S10 from Kansas City, while LATAM regional finalist Jesus Daniel Payan Gastelum presented a VW Beetle pickup truck conversion from Mexico. Inspired by his grandmother’s love of antiques and his Texas upbringing, DeVine’s 1990 Chevy S10 features a striking patina finish and a western-style haulier bed that gives the truck a distinctive silhouette. Gastelum’s one-of-a-kind VW Beetle was converted into an off-road pickup truck, fitted with an upgraded suspension and 37-inch tyres that provide a substantial lift and a purposeful stance suited to rough terrain.
Motorsports ambassador Jarod DeAnda hosted this year’s Hot Wheels Legends Tour Global Grand Finale and introduced three remarkable builds from around the world to fans watching the event. The judging panel set out to choose the entry that best represents authenticity, creativity and true garage spirit within the Hot Wheels Legends Tour. The panel featured Jay Leno, TV host and car enthusiast; Michael Cimino, actor and car culture enthusiast; Therese Lahlouh, race car driver; Nhu Tran, automotive content creator; Hert Life, automotive content creator; Juca, automotive content creator; Bryan Benedict, Hot Wheels key principal designer; and Craig Callum, Hot Wheels senior designer, each bringing a unique perspective on performance, design and storytelling.
Celebrating car builders and enthusiasts worldwide, the 2025 Hot Wheels Legends Tour travelled to 16 countries, including 11 regional stops across the United States, to discover the next Hot Wheels Garage of Legends™ hero. New Tour stops included Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg), Peru, and Turkey, reflecting the travelling car show's growing global appeal. Throughout the Tour, Hot Wheels designers and local automotive experts evaluated thousands of vehicle entries. At the same time, millions of fans attended live events and tuned in online to follow the search for the next Hot Wheels Legends Tour winner.
Since its launch in 2018 to celebrate Hot Wheels’ 50th anniversary, the Hot Wheels Legends Tour presented by Mobil 1 has evolved from a U.S.-based series of local Walmart events into the world’s largest travelling car show, attracting custom car builders and automotive fans to live and virtual experiences. Previous Hot Wheels Garage of Legends™ champions include the inaugural 2018-winning 2JetZ™, the 2019-winning THE NASH™, the 2020-winning 1970 Pontiac® Firebird™, the 2021-winning 1969 Volvo P1800 Gasser, the 2022-winning “Texas Toot,” an ultra-custom 1992 Autozam Scrum micro truck, the 2023-winning 1990 Mazda MX-5 roadster nicknamed “Chimaera.” The 2024 winner is a 1968 custom-built Ford Falcon nicknamed “La Liebre.” Paweł Czarnecki’s Fiat 126B now joins this lineup of Hot Wheels Legends Tour winners, securing its place in Hot Wheels history as it arrives on shelves around the world in 1:64 scale form.
