Landing On Mars May Be Easier Than Landing One of These Gems

The hottest sport utility vehicle on the market today is not a Suburban, Expedition or Explorer. Nope. It’s a Hot Wheels.

Though it’s a 164th-scale model, its big brother can put those high-priced, leather-lined urban assault vehicles to shame. And, while the 23-pound Sojourner tears up Mars like a Baja 1000 champion, the Hot Wheels JPL Sojourner Mars Rover is tearing up the mall.

These Chinese-made replicas of the six-wheeled wonder are sold out at all 684 Toys R Us stores. Other toy and novelty shops such as Toys International in Century City and Puzzle Zoo in Santa Monica have yet to receive their supply but say there has been plenty of demand.

Caltech, which runs JPL, is allowing Mattel to make the toy in return for an undisclosed percentage of the sales.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratories employee store in Pasadena unveiled the Hot Wheels model Monday. All 1,500 toys on hand were sold within 20 minutes.

One of the first to get one was NASA Mars Program Manager Donna Shirley, who supervised the development of the real thing. “Yes, they’re out,” she told reporters July 4 after Pathfinder landed, pulling her Hot Wheels from a bag, “but they’re very difficult to find.”

“Due to the successful landing, they have become a very scarce item,” said Mattel spokeswoman Sara Rosales, who declined to reveal how many of the toys, which went on the market in late May, have been sold. “We’re trying to get additional product in the stores as quickly as possible.”

The Hot Wheels model comes as part of a $5 Mars Rover pack, and includes a model of the Pathfinder spacecraft and a “lander.”