Background: Corgi Toys era "Corgi Toys" was launched in 1956 as a new range of
die-cast toy model cars by
Mettoy Playcraft LTD, the
toy car company founded in 1936. These new toy cars were soon a huge hit because at the time they were the only toy cars on the market that included transparent plastic windows, they soon became known as "the ones with the windows". Although Corgi has had many
model car competitors ranging from
Dinky Toys to
Lledo, its name is well known to this day. In its first year of trading Corgi sold 2.75 million cars, making it a clear leader of the British toy car industry. In 1966 Corgi won both ''
The Queen's Award to Industry and the National Association of Toy Retailers' Highest Standards Award'', two prestigious awards. In March 1969, a year's supply was destroyed in the factory in
Fforestfach in
Swansea by a fire, a major setback, which cut profits tremendously. Despite this, Corgi continued to remain among top
collectables for many years. Sales increased in the late 1960s and early '70s after the
James Bond Aston Martin DB5 and the
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car was released, but sales were fell sharply after the 1969 fire, which led to substantial ground being lost to its main rival Dinky, but by 1971, the Swansea factory was back to full production again after major repairs costing over £1.3 million. The ''Queen's silver jubilee model
edition released in 1977 was an instant best-seller, along with another nostalgia model, Edward VII's coronation state coach'' of 1901. After a rapid decline in sales, in 1983 economic analysts said that decline was inevitable; children and adults had moved on to more sophisticated toys, others however did not agree; they believed if it had not been for the fire there would have been no problem. , promotional for
FINA Corgi reformed as "Corgi Toys Ltd." in 1984 and turned its attention to regaining the British toy company's confidence. Three years later Corgi turned to the export market for profits, soon distributing in Australia,
Continental Europe and the United States. Shortly after this Corgi started the
Collectors Club, which quickly gained worldwide membership. In 1989 the company was taken over by
Mattel, the worldwide toy manufacturing giant (manufacturer of
Barbie Dolls and
Hot Wheels cars), and production was moved to Leicester, the Mattel headquarters. Corgi then introduced a new range: Corgi Classics, selling nostalgia cars, vans and trucks from the 1930s, '40s, '50s and '60s, aimed at those who had grown up during that period. At around the same period in the US, Corgi released a new range of trucks, fire tenders and buses based on North American prototypes, though these were not as successful as had been hoped.
Corgi Classics Limited In 1995, Corgi regained its independence as a new company, "Corgi Classics Limited", and moved to new premises in
Leicester. Under Hornby ownership the Corgi brand underwent a rebrand in 2012, this saw the introduction of a new logo and style of packaging, however the main element reasoning behind the change was the relaunch of Corgi Toys. In 2019 a new series was launched called: CORGI CHUNKIES is new range of toys with moving interactive parts, free-rolling, soft-tyred wheels, left and right hand drive and a strong child-proof build. The chunkies models were designed by Hanan Shpetrick. == Famous models ==