Category: Maisto

Maisto International Inc. is a globally marketed toy brand that is part of the May Cheong Group. Though the brand is now headquartered in California, its origins and main company today are in Hong Kong. Maisto mainly manufactures die-cast models of automobiles, aircraft, and motorcycles. The company has also manufactured a number of Tonka products under license from Hasbro. It also now owns the former Italian Bburago and Polistil brand names.

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.

The May Cheong Group is based in Hong Kong and their products are made in China and Thailand. 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.

In 2005 the May Cheong Group acquired the assets of the famous Italian brand Bburago. Later, Maisto also obtained the Polistil name, another well-known Italian scale model manufacturer that had previously gone bankrupt.