Ford creates van for Hot Wheels fans

Chris Woodyard | USA TODAY

LAS VEGAS -- Ford has become the latest automaker to create its own Hot Wheels vehicle, this time using a 2014 Transit Connect.

There's something about the Mattel toy cars that always attract automakers wanting to turn the toy into the real thing. Maybe its Hot Wheels' popularity, with 4 billion produced since it was created in 1968.

"The Hot Wheels design team jumped at the chance to hot rod a Transit Connect van. The idea was to create a race inspired support vehicle for the average guy to spend a weekend at the track testing his Hot Wheels race car," said Felix Holst, vice president of creative for the Mattel Wheels Division, in a statement.

To make it look like something that would fly along an orange plastic track, Ford reskinned the Transit Connect hauler and made the wheels wider in back. Inside, the Hot Wheels van sports three television sets.

Michigan-based custom builders Ice 9 Group worked with designers from Ford and Mattel to create the vehicle.