The matchbox brand was founded in 1953 as part of Lesney Products, Inc., and was acquired by Mattel. The original product of the matchbox was an alloy toy car, because the founder's daughter's school only allowed children to carry a matchbox-sized toy, so the toy was designed to limit the packaging size, which was also described as "1:box".

The introduction of matchbox cars also set off a new trend in the toy market, and many alloy car brands appeared in more than ten years, but the status of matchboxes was still unshaken, and it was not until Mattel launched the Hot Wheels car in 1968 that the market share of matchboxes was affected to a certain extent. Prior to its acquisition by Mattel, matchboxes were more popular in the UK and Commonwealth countries, while Hot Wheels was even more popular among North American collectors.

Since its inception, nearly 12,000 model versions have been produced for matchboxes, with a total sales volume of 3 billion, but today's matchbox cars have no advantage over Hot Wheels and Tomei cars, and the brand is gradually marginalized. In terms of pricing, the matchbox is comparable to the Hot Wheels, and the unit price of the alloy car is 1~2 US dollars. However, among several major alloy car brands, only matchboxes have special vehicles such as sand off-road vehicles and crawler trucks, and interested consumers can consider buying them.

When buying gifts for children, it is recommended to buy matchbox sets, 50 cars pack set of different shapes of cars, trucks, engineering vehicles, speedboats, etc., a total of 50 cars, all of which are individually packaged, exquisite decoration, and realistic details. However, Mattel has not introduced matchboxes to the Chinese market at present, and consumers need to purchase them through daigou or overseas shopping.