I
was surprised to find a modest diecast car offered by a seller just about
three months ago. It is a replica of the Daewoo Matiz. It was offered
along with three usual suspects in small-scale. After posting images of
the model in the Matchbox Collector's Community Hall, at www.mboxcommunity.com, there
was plenty of feedback from collectors and new information about other few interesting
models in this series.
Two other Korean cars are represented. The Daewoo Lanos Saloon and the
Hyundai Atos. Until very recently, the only other known Korean car in small-scale
diecast was the Hot Wheels Hyundai Tiburon. Diecast were manufactured in
Korea, but the small-scale models were replicas of foreign cars.
You may be wondering
who the manufacturer is. My contact in Hong Kong provided the following:
one
translation for the Chinese characters on the
package is "Di Ya Duo". That is all I know. The smaller lettering
is "Guangzhou City Co. (or Ltd.). This is likely an importer. The underside
of one of the packages identifies a Hong Kong firm named "Bingo Toys",
perhaps a distributor. I imagine the manufacturer is another firm. The textured
black plastic baseplates only identify "Made in China".
The quality is comparable to models from Pioneer Toys, higher end Singafund
and Wang Sing (Win Star). It is certainly welcomed when a lesser known manufacturer
will produce replicas of cars no other has offered.

Hyundai Atos
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Daewoo Matiz
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Fiat 500
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Mercedes-Benz A-Class
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Daewoo Lanos
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VW New Beetle
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