Maisto

Maisto International Inc. is a popular American toy brand marketed worldwide and part of the May Cheong Group. Maisto mainly manufactures die-cast models of automobiles, aircraft, and motorcycles. The company has manufactured a number of Tonka products under license from Hasbro. It also now owns the former Italian Bburago and Polistil brand names.

Company history

In the 1980s, Maisto became well known as a diecast vehicle producer after a business conglomeration of May Tat Toy (Mainly motorcycles), May Cheong (MC Toy - which produced smaller vehicles), and Maisto. Through the 1990s, Maisto was considered the US division of Master Toy Co. Ltd. of Thailand with May Cheong being the Kowloon, Hong Kong, subsidiary (Johnson 1998, 119).

The May Cheong Group is based in Hong Kong and their products are made in China and Thailand (Rixon 2005, 64). The factories in China and Thailand manufacture 1:12, 1:18, 1:24, 1:25, 1:27, 1:43, 1:31 and 1:64 scale replicas. Most models are officially licensed products, based on popular vehicles. Others, however, are fantastical rod and custom creations more in line with the Hot Wheels formula. The US warehouse and distribution center, aka Maisto International, Inc, is located in Fontana, California.