Hot Wheels Base Codes: Decode Any Date Code in 10 Seconds
July 14, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026
Short answer: the code on a Hot Wheels base is a production date. The letter is the year of manufacture (A = 2008, skipping I, O and Q, so U = 2025 and V = 2026) and the two digits are the week. V07 is week 7 of 2026. A fourth letter, as in U41N, is the factory: A Thailand, I Indonesia, N Malaysia.
Correction, November 2026: an earlier version of this page missed that Mattel also skips the letter Q, which put every letter from R onward one year too late. The table and decoder below are fixed.
Decode yours here, then read on for how the system works and what else the base tells you.
How the base code works
Since 2008, Hot Wheels made in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia carry a short date code on the base:
- The letter is the year of manufacture. A was 2008, and the alphabet moves on one letter a year. I, O and Q are skipped because they read like 1 and 0, which is why 2021 was P and 2022 jumped to R.
- The two digits are the week of that year, from 01 to 52 (53 turns up rarely).
- A fourth letter, when present, is the factory. It started mainly on Super Rigs and similar models and now also appears on mainline and Premium cars: A is Thailand, I is Indonesia, N is Malaysia.
So M36 is week 36 of 2019 (early September), and U41N is week 41 of 2025 at the Malaysian plant. That second one is a real example: the Hot Wheels wiki lists the 2026 mainline Ferrari F40 Competizione (JJJ31) with base codes from U41N to U46N. The 2026 Car Culture Japan Historics 5 cars, made in Thailand, run from U36A to V01A.
Cars made in China or Vietnam use a different format: three digits for the day of the year, one digit for the year, then a plant code. 2203EAA is the 220th day of 2023 (8 August) at plant EAA in China. Because the year is a single digit, it could also mean 2013; the one closest to the car’s release is the right one. The decoder above reads both formats.
The full letter-to-year table
| Code | Year | Code | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 2008 | L | 2018 | |
| B | 2009 | M | 2019 | |
| C | 2010 | N | 2020 | |
| D | 2011 | P | 2021 | |
| E | 2012 | R | 2022 | |
| F | 2013 | S | 2023 | |
| G | 2014 | T | 2024 | |
| H | 2015 | U | 2025 | |
| J | 2016 | V | 2026 | |
| K | 2017 |
I, O and Q are never used. W should follow for 2027, though no car carries one yet.
Which codes are on the pegs in November 2026
Mattel builds a year’s mainline mixes over roughly twelve months, starting around late July of the previous year, and each mix runs for two to four weeks at the factory. The first mix of a model year usually reaches stores around September of the year before, give or take depending on the country. That is why the base code and the year on the card so often disagree:
- Early 2026 mixes were made in late 2025 and carry U codes.
- Later 2026 mixes carry V codes.
- The first 2027 mixes, due in stores from around September 2026, were also made in the second half of 2026, so they carry V codes too.
A V code on a car in the aisle this month can be a late 2026 release or an early 2027 one. The card tells you which.
The date on the card
The car is not the only thing dated. Mattel also embosses a production code into the card itself: a 2018 mainline card in the Hot Wheels wiki shows L21 pressed into the back, and the back of a 2025 Silver Series ‘67 Porsche 911 R card shows U13 03-25, the same week code with the month and year spelled out. For carded collectors this is handy, because the base faces the card and cannot be read without opening the package.
Matchbox uses the same letter system, but according to the Matchbox wiki it stopped putting the code on the car around 2023 or 2024 and now embosses it on the card only. More on that brand in our Matchbox collector’s guide.
Why collectors care
A date stamp sounds like trivia until you hit the situations where it decides things:
Production year vs release year. A “2026” car with a U code is not a mistake or a fake. It was simply made in late 2025.
Runs, reruns and base changes. Popular castings are produced in several waves, sometimes with small differences in paint shade, wheels or base material. The Hot Wheels wiki records base codes for each release, and collectors use them to date tooling changes and to separate an early run from a later one.
Checking a listing. A seller’s “first run” claim is checkable in seconds if the photos show the base or the back of the card.
Loose cars. For an unpackaged car, the base is the best evidence you have. The date code tells you when your copy was made, which narrows down which year’s release it can be.
Everything else on the base
A modern base carries more than the date. Here is what the base of a 2024 BMW M3 Wagon shows, as photographed in the Hot Wheels wiki:
| On the base | What it means |
|---|---|
| BMW M3 Wagon | The casting name. |
| HRY67 | The casting code: the toy number of the casting’s first release (the blue 2024 car), molded into the base. |
| Made in Malaysia | Country of manufacture. |
| ©2023 Mattel | The copyright year of the casting design, not the year your car was made. This casting first went on sale in 2024. |
| 1186 MJ, 1, NL | Part of Mattel Europa’s address (Gondel 1, 1186 MJ Amstelveen, Netherlands). It is on every car and says nothing about yours. |
| T03 | The base code: week 3 of 2024. |
The casting code is the one people mix up with a toy number. It points to the casting, not to your release: the blue and red 2024 cars, the green 2025 HW Wagons car, its Super Treasure Hunt version and the 2026 Blue and Gold car are all releases of the HRY67 casting. Our toy number guide shows how to get from there to the exact release.
What the base code will not tell you
It will not tell you rarity. Treasure Hunts and Super Treasure Hunts are identified by the logo, the paint and the wheels, which we walk through in how to tell if a Hot Wheels is a Treasure Hunt. It will not identify the release on its own either: that is the toy number’s job, and the toy number is printed on the card, not the car. And cars made before 2008 predate the system, so dating those relies on copyright years and casting details.
Putting it to work in Hunt64
When you scan a carded car with Hunt64, the app reads the front of the package and matches it against a catalog of 25,800+ releases (19,100+ of them Hot Wheels, plus Matchbox, Majorette, Mini GT and Kaido House), with the year, series and rarity flags. It does not read the date code, so if production week matters to you, the notes field is the place for it, especially on carded keepers.
A loose car has no card to read, so the app asks for the code on the base instead. Type the casting code (like HRY67) or the casting name into the catalog search, then pick your release by color and wheels. It is slower than a scan, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.
Bookmark this page for the next time you are squinting at a base. Or just remember: the letter is the year, the digits are the week, and the alphabet started at A in 2008 and skips I, O and Q.
Frequently asked questions
What does the code on the bottom of a Hot Wheels car mean?
It is a production date. The letter is the year the car was made (A was 2008, and the letters advance one per year, skipping I, O and Q), and the two digits are the week of that year. A fourth letter, when there is one, is the factory: A for Thailand, I for Indonesia, N for Malaysia. U41N means week 41 of 2025, made in Malaysia.
What letter is 2026 on Hot Wheels base codes?
V. A car made in 2026 carries a code like V14 (week 14 of 2026). U was 2025 and T was 2024. If the pattern holds, W will be 2027.
Why does my 2026 Hot Wheels have a U code?
Because production runs ahead of retail. Mattel starts making a year's first mixes around late July of the year before, so early 2026 mainline cars were made in late 2025 and carry U codes. The 2026 Ferrari F40 Competizione mainline, for example, is listed with codes from U41N to U46N.
Does the base code tell you if a Hot Wheels is rare?
No. Treasure Hunts and Super Treasure Hunts are identified by their logo, paint and wheels, not the base code. The base code only tells you when that individual car was made.
What is the five-character code on the base, like HRY67?
On many recent castings that is the casting's code: the toy number of the casting's first release, molded into the base. The BMW M3 Wagon's base reads HRY67, the toy number of its blue 2024 debut, and later releases of that casting, from the 2025 Super Treasure Hunt to the 2026 Blue and Gold car, are built on the same casting. It tells you the casting, not which release you have.