Hot Wheels Advent Calendar 2026: what's inside, the 10 cars and price
Updated November 13, 2026. The Hot Wheels Advent Calendar 2026 is Mattel item JLG41: 24 doors, ten of them hiding a 1:64 die-cast car and the rest winter accessories, plus ornament clips that turn the cars into tree decorations. One car is exclusive to the calendar, a hot rod under a clear snow globe with a Yeti at the wheel. In the US it sells for about $27, in the UK for £20 at Argos. Below: what is behind the doors, which ten cars collectors have identified, what changed from the 2025 calendar (JCB47) and whether it belongs in a collection.
What's inside the 2026 calendar
| Item | Count |
|---|---|
| Doors | 24 |
| 1:64 die-cast cars | 10 (one exclusive) |
| Winter accessories | 14 |
| Ornament clips | 10 |
That is how Mattel's listing counts it, 34 pieces in all. The JLG41 box itself says "10 cars, 23 accessories", clips included with the accessories, which is one piece fewer.
Ten doors hold a car and the other fourteen an accessory; the product description names a reindeer, a sleigh and a gingerbread house among them. The clips let each car hang from a branch, and the empty box folds out into a snowy mountain race scene (advent.center; Good Housekeeping calls it a "wintry 2D racetrack", October 29, 2026). Mattel rates it for ages 3 and up.
What cars are in the Hot Wheels Advent Calendar 2026?
Mattel does not publish the car list: the product listing names none of them. The list below comes from the Hot Wheels Wiki, the fan-run encyclopedia, which also shows photos of an opened calendar. We have not been able to confirm it from a second independent source, so treat it as the community's list until your own doors say otherwise.
| Casting | What it is (per the wiki) | First year |
|---|---|---|
| Bad to the Blade | futuristic open-wheel racer | 2012 |
| Drone Duty | rescue truck with a drone | 2022 |
| GT-Scorcher | Group 5-style race car | 2021 |
| Head Starter | cartoon-style vintage racer | 2017 |
| Hi Beam | compact rally car | 2018 |
| HW-4-TRAC | open-wheel single-seater | 2023 |
| Lightnin' Bug | futuristic dune buggy | 2022 |
| Loco Motorin' | locomotive on wheels | 2020 |
| Sleighn' Rubber | snow globe hot rod, exclusive | 2025 |
| Torque Twister | modern muscle car | 2010 |
All ten are Hot Wheels original designs rather than licensed real-world cars — there is no Ford or Porsche in this box. A casting is the mold of a model; the same castings come out in other colors in regular releases, and the wiki notes that advent calendar castings also turn up in multipacks and 5-packs.
The exclusive: a Yeti in a snow globe
The only car Mattel calls exclusive is the snow globe hot rod. Its casting name is Sleighn' Rubber (Good Housekeeping spells it "Sleighin' Rubber"). It is not brand new: the casting debuted in the 2025 calendar, JCB47, with a snowman inside the dome. For 2026 the wiki lists a modified casting with a Yeti, a red body and door 24 as its spot.
Price and release date: US, UK, Canada, Australia
| Country | Price | Where, when |
|---|---|---|
| United States | $26.98–$26.99 | H-E-B, Amazon, Nov 12–13 |
| United Kingdom | £20 | Argos, Nov 2 |
| Canada | about CA$35 | well.ca, Amazon.ca, November |
| Australia | not found | no 2026 listing at Kmart AU |
Divide by ten cars and you pay about $2.70 a car in the US and exactly £2 in the UK, accessories included. A single mainline car on the peg costs $1.24–$1.25 in the US and £2.00–£2.30 in the UK (from our Hot Wheels 2026 guide), so in Britain the calendar costs about the same per car as the pegs. We found no official release date from Mattel; Smyths in the UK was already selling it in August 2026 for £19.99, according to a UK unboxing video posted on August 7. In Australia we found only last year's calendar at Kmart (A$49 for 2025), not the 2026 one.
Is the Hot Wheels Advent Calendar worth it for a collector?
The calendar cars are not mainline. They come loose, without a card or an "N/250" number, so they are not part of the Mainline 2026 checklist, and you will not find a Treasure Hunt behind a door — how to spot TH and STH on the pegs is in our collecting guide. As a gift for a child aged three and up, the idea is simple: a car a day and a track to play on. If you want to keep the calendar itself in a collection, leave it sealed: an opened door cannot be closed again.
ColleX has no checklist for the advent calendar yet. Track this year's finds in Mainline 2026, Treasure Hunt 2026 and Super Treasure Hunt 2026.
Every Hot Wheels advent calendar since 2022
| Year | Mattel number | Contents |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | HCW15 | 8 cars + 16 accessories |
| 2023 | HKL74 | 8 + 16 |
| 2024 | HTG00 | 8 + 16 |
| 2025 | JCB47 | 10 cars + 14 accessories + 10 clips |
| 2026 | JLG41 | 10 + 14 + 10 |
Numbers and contents match Mattel and retailer listings. The Hot Wheels Wiki traces the calendars back to 2015 and shows the 8 + 16 format unchanged until 2024. Some castings come back: per the wiki, Bad to the Blade was already in the 2015 calendar and Torque Twister in 2017 and 2024.
"24 Days of Speed" is not the Mattel calendar
"Hot wheels 24 days of speed" shows up next to the 2026 calendar in Google's suggestions. On November 13, 2026 we found that name only on small web shops with no Mattel item number, and their descriptions contradict each other: one lists "24 acrylic replica items" that are "not metal die-cast", another molded polymer bodies. The official 2026 calendar is JLG41 with ten die-cast cars — check for that number on the box.
More 2026 advent calendars
For figures and bricks, see our guides to the LEGO advent calendars 2026, Funko advent calendars 2026 and the Pokémon advent calendar 2026. What comes next in mainline is in our Hot Wheels 2027 news.
Frequently asked questions
How many cars are in the Hot Wheels Advent Calendar 2026?
Ten 1:64 die-cast cars, one of them exclusive (the Sleighn' Rubber with a Yeti). The cars sit behind 10 of the 24 doors, the other doors hold accessories, and ornament clips come in the box too.
What cars are in the 2026 Hot Wheels Advent Calendar?
Mattel does not publish a list. According to the fan-run Hot Wheels Wiki: Bad to the Blade, Drone Duty, GT-Scorcher, Head Starter, Hi Beam, HW-4-TRAC, Lightnin' Bug, Loco Motorin', Sleighn' Rubber and Torque Twister, all Hot Wheels original designs.
When does the Hot Wheels Advent Calendar 2026 come out?
It is already on sale. Mattel has not published a launch date that we could find, but Smyths in the UK was selling it in August 2026 (per a UK unboxing video posted on August 7), and in November it is listed at Argos, Amazon and H-E-B.
Is the Hot Wheels Advent Calendar 2026 different from 2025?
According to Mattel's listing, the format is the same: 10 cars, 14 accessories, 10 clips. The exclusive is the same Sleighn' Rubber casting, but the 2025 version (JCB47) had a snowman in the snow globe and 2026 has a Yeti. The other nine cars are different.
What is the Hot Wheels "24 Days of Speed" advent calendar?
Not Mattel's JLG41. On November 13, 2026 it was sold only by small web shops without a Mattel item number, with contradicting descriptions (acrylic replicas on one site, plastic bodies on another).
Can I trade duplicate Hot Wheels on ColleX?
For this year's cars, yes, where the ColleX Market is open (there is no calendar checklist yet). In the Mainline, TH or STH 2026 set, set your second copy to Have and raise the count, then flag missing models as Want. ColleX pairs you with collectors who can fill those gaps and need your spares; the details are settled in chat.
Sources: Mattel listings (JLG41, JCB47, HTG00, HKL74), Smyths, Lidl and Morele (contents, November 13, 2026); Hot Wheels Wiki (car list, calendars since 2015); Good Housekeeping (October 29, 2026) and advent.center (Sleighn' Rubber, race scene, Amazon prices November 12, 2026); britbrief (Argos, November 2, 2026); H-E-B, well.ca, Kmart AU; "24 Days of Speed" shop pages (November 13, 2026).