Majorette

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For the dancers and performers, see Majorettes.
Majorette logo

Majorette is a French toy manufacturer which mostly produces small die-cast cars, particularly in 1:64 scale.

Contents

[edit] History

Model 3045 Lincoln Limousine.
Model 3045 Lincoln Limousine.

Founded in 1961 by Emile Véron, Majorette became the first French manufacturer of miniature cars. Since then, the company has produced a significant number of licensed vehicles, focusing especially in everyday cars, French and European models in particular. Other notable marques to be frequently covered by Majorette include North American vehicles from General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler and the Japanese brands Nissan and Toyota.

Besides their important domestic presence, through large commercial channels, Majorette relies heavily on sales to foreign markets. In 1982 Majorette USA was established in Miami, Florida, though Majorette models have not been available in the US for some time now. After being purchased by Smoby in 2003 to become Smoby-Majorette, the company is to be divorced in 2008 from Smoby again and is to be sold to MI29, a French investment fund which owns Bigben Interactive for €3,900,000. The new relationship will result in 23 job losses (from 78 to 55).

[edit] Design

Two heavily played with Majorette cars, a Citroën Acadiane and a Mazda RX-7.
Two heavily played with Majorette cars, a Citroën Acadiane and a Mazda RX-7.

Over the years, Majorette has changed to adapt, with mixed results.

By the early 1970s, Majorette established a reputation of making detailed, heavy cars of good quality, and incorporating features like opening doors and hoods, translucent plastic parts, and a sprung suspension system. In contrast to today, mid 1970s Majorette cars were superior models to Norev Minijet cars, as demonstrated by the Citroen CX models from both firms - the paint finish on the Majorette is more consistent, and less thickly applied compared to the Norev. Doors on the Majorette are sprung as is the suspension. Number plates and detailed plastic parts set the older Majorettes apart from Norevs. In more modern times, the Norev now has the advantage in terms of quality. More plastic parts now feature on the Norev cars and metal bases on new castings still exist, in contrast to Majorette which has moved downmarket with plastic bases, and tampo printing for headlamps instead of plastic ones. Norev wheels are detailed replicas of the real thing compard to Majorette's generic items.

Towards the 1980s, as a marketing strategy, the design was geared to emphasize the toy appeal of the cars. This included brighter paints, large tampos and slightly exaggerated bodies. However, this was well executed, and even if the cars lost some realism, they gained a particular, attractive styling.

The 1990s brought financial troubles, which had a tremendous impact in the quality of the miniatures. After bankruptcy and a takeover, production was relocated to Thailand. But not only did the cars lose the proud 'Made in France' at their base; actually, the shiny metal base itself was missing from new models, replaced by ordinary black plastic, a solution previously deemed proper for lesser brands. The loss was not only visual or tactile: the Majorettes lost their characteristic weight, which gave them consistence and body.

Fortunately, the rest of the old Majorette brand survives. Entering the 21st century, batches of better castings have been introduced, as well as an image facelift that includes a modified logo, and a toning down of the aesthetics of the 1980s and 1990s, in touch with the automobile industry's trend of using deep, metallic paints. Despite some occasional poor paint choices, and an intriguing fixation with the silver grey, the style change has been successful.

Mini Cooper Cabrio. Majorette 2005
Mini Cooper Cabrio. Majorette 2005

[edit] Sonic Flashers

One line of cars was known as the Sonic Flashers. When pushed down on, a siren blare could be heard and lights would flash. These came in military, police, fire, and ambulance versions

[edit] Majo-kit

During the 1980s and 1990s Majorette made play sets called Majo-kit. Majo-kit came with plastic pavement pieces that locked together to form the streets of a town. The pieces came in straight pieces, inner corner pieces, outer corner pieces and straight pieces that could be used as parking spaces. Each piece had at least one hole on it where objects such as traffic signs, street lights, parking meters, rubbish bins, flowers and even buildings could be inserted. Some sets would include one or more Majorette car and other sets included figurines that could be played with in the city. The sizes of the Majo-kit, Majorette cars and the figurines were not to scale with one another.

[edit] Changing times

Nowadays, Majorette is under new ownership, with the 200 line continuing to be made in Thailand. The distribution of Majorette via major retailers has been limited mainly to Europe, South America and Asia. Some new models were released later than originally expected, for example, the Nissan Murano, Fiat Panda and Mercedes-Benz SLK were due to be released in 2005, but they did not reach the market until Autumn 2006. Only 3 models due to be released in 2005 actually made it onto the market that year, and were reported by collectors to be 'very hard to find'.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links