Gear up, girls: Mattel rolls out Polly Wheels as Barbie sputters.

MATTEL Inc.'s trademark miniature Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars have been big sellers to little boys for four decades.

Now the giant El Segundo toy manufacturer would like to put little girls behind the wheel. Mattel has debuted a line of pink and purple die-cast cars called Polly Wheels.

"They are designed by girls for girls and tap into the ways girls want to play," said Stephanie Cota, Mattel's vice president of marketing.

Based on two years of market research and the success of its existing car toys, the company believes the line has considerable potential. And some analysts agree.

"I think the Polly Wheels line seems really fun for girls," said Reyne Rice, a trends analyst for the Toy Industry Association. "Some girls like cars, and this gives them the opportunity to have a car in the style they like."

The line is a spin-off of the company's popular Polly Pocket line, and each car comes with a removable Polly Pocket figure. The toys, which will retail for $2.99, come in colors with names like "Bling N Blush" and "Glitter Peach." Company researchers say they found that girls like to play with cars, but while boys tend to use cars to act out stunts or other active maneuvers, girls tend to use them to act out social situations and reach destinations. To capitalize on these tendencies, the company plans to release a "Race to the Mall" play set in conjunction with the gifts' cars later this year.

It may be clever marketing, but some think focusing so specifically on the traditional boy-girl breakdown propagates negative stereotypes.

"Are they going to have a 'Race to the Bar' for boys and their Hot Wheels?" asked Callista Lee, a Fullerton College psychology professor and expert on gender-based marketing.

Part of the motivation for broadening the target market for its toy car line can be put in simple terms: cars are hot and Barbie dolls, another iconic Mattel toy, are not.

In its fast quarter earnings report released last week, the El Segundo toymaker reported a 15 percent increase in sales for its Hot Wheels and Matchbox lines over last year. Sales of the company's entertainment-related toys increased by 59 percent, driven by the popularity of its line of toys based on the Disney-Pixar animated film "Cars."

These successes, along with strong sales in its Fisher-Price brand, helped the company offset weak Barbie sales and beat Wall Street estimates for the quarter. Analysts had predicted a loss of 5 cents per share, according to a survey by Thomson Financial, but the company was able to post earnings of $12 million (3 cents per share).

Mattel's diversity of brands, which also include Fisher-Price and American Girl, make the company one of the strongest in the toy industry, wrote Michael Savner, an analyst with Banc of America Securities LLC.

"We are optimistic on the long-term prospects for the toy industry and believe that Mattel is uniquely positioned," he wrote last week in a quarterly report.

Despite the strong first quarter showing, analysts point out that the first quarter can be inconsequential for toy companies. The real test will come later, when Mattel will find out if little girls with hot new rides can drive holiday sales.

BY RICHARD CLOUGH

Staff Reporter