Hobby Products International
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Hobby Products International or HPI of Foothill Ranch, California, USA is a manufacturer of on- and off-road radio-controlled cars, both electric and nitro.
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[edit] Timeline
The company, originally an export firm, was founded in 1986 by Tatsuro Watanabe and a partner, each with a total investment of US$100 each. Their original office in Costa Mesa, California measured only 300 square feet, or 28 square meters. A line of electric R/C motors called the Uno series were among the first products offered by HPI. Buoyed by the success of the Uno, HPI opened a small office in Japan that same year.
1987 would see world champion driver Masami Hirosaka use an Uno in his first IFMAR World Championship win in England.
By 1988, the burgeoning RC aftermarket proved to be a boon to HPI USA as they started exporting popular American-made R/C products to Japan, including such familiar brands as MIP, Peak Performance and Paragon.
One of HPI's perennial favorites was introduced in 1989 with the hiring of chief engineer Akira Kogawa. His line of Super Star wheels remains popular today. Akira also designed the Rush, Micro and Baja kits that have remained popular with RC hobbyists.
HPI moved to a larger building in nearby El Toro, California in 1990. "Large" is a relative term, since the new office was only 700 sq ft (65 m²). A popular line of graphite parts for pan cars was released that year. Touring car motors and offroad truck parts followed suit in 1991.
HPI's second designer, Ito, was hired in 1992 to design pan car parts. Ito would later be responsible for the "Super F1," HPI's first-ever car kit, and was the lead designer for many of HPI's successes, such as the Savage. Continued growth that year literally doubled the size of the facility after their move into a second building unit.
The then-new touring car class was in full swing by 1993, with HPI introducing a full line of parts for both electric and nitro cars. A major Southern California win at the Thunderdrome soon followed as did a major shakeup, when Watanabe bought out his original partner to become sole proprietor of HPI. He retired from day-to-day operations of the company in 2004, making Shawn Ireland company president.
In 1995 the RS4 touring car was released to wide acclaim, solidifying HPI as one of the early proponents of the touring car racing fraternity. A "Pro" model followed in 1997, then the "Pro 2" in 1999, "Pro 3" in 2001, and finally the "Pro 4" in 2004.
Hobby Products International currently operates from a 45,000 square foot facility in Foothill Ranch, California and oversees manufacturing operations there as well as in Japan and Taiwan. HPI also maintains offices in Japan and England. These provide distribution facilities and market feedback for Asia (including Australia) and Europe/Africa, respectively. The location in California sends products to distributors across North America and South America and is considered the headquarters of the HPI group.
In 2005 HPI merged with Hot Bodies, another company owned by Mr. Watanabe, which initially began manufacturing bodies and upgrade parts for the HPI RS4 Pro 3.Today, they produce a wide range of radio control cars, trucks and buggies, plus accessories. Many of the plastic suspension pieces for the Hot Bodies Cyclone, their top-level electric touring car, come from HPI's Pro 4.
[edit] List of RC Kit Releases
This is a list of HPI kit releases, in approximate chronological order:
- Super F1
- Road Star 10 (1/10th scale racing pan car)
- Street Machine (1/10th scale 'road' pan car)
- RS4 (touring car)
- Nitro RS4
- RS4 Pro
- RS4 Sport
- Nitro RS4 Mini
- RS4 MT (4WD truck)
- RS4 Mini
- RS4 Mini Pro
- Nitro RS4 Racer (a version of the Nitro RS4 with upgraded racing parts)
- RS4 Rally (RS4 Sport with off-road suspension and tires)
- RTR Nitro RS4
- Super Nitro RS4 (essentially a larger scale Nitro RS4)
- RS4 Pro 2
- RTR Nitro RS4 2
- Proceed (1/8th scale race car)
- Nitro RS4 MT
- Nitro RS4 Racer 2
- RS4 Sport 2
- Nitro Rush (an all-new 2WD truck design)
- RTR Nitro RS4 MT
- Nitro RS4 MT Racer
- RTR Nitro Rush
- Super Nitro RS4 Rally
- RS4 Pro 3
- RS4 Pro 3 Spec S
- RS4 Pro 3 Spec V
- Micro RS4 (a 1/18th scale, single-belt drive car)
- RTR Super Nitro RS4
- RTR Nitro RS4 3
- Dash (toy-level RC car)
- Savage 21 (RTR monster truck)
- R40 (on-road Nitro touring car)
- Savage SS (a kit version of the Savage, but with upgraded parts)
- Savage 25
- Pro 4
- RTR Nitro RS4 3 Evo
- RTR Rush Evo
- RTR Nitro MT 2
- Sprint (replaced the RS4 Sport 2)
- Super RS4 (same size as Super Nitro RS4, essentially a larger scale Sport 2)
- Savage 4.6 SS
- Nitro RS4 3 18SS (a kit version of the RTR Nitro RS4 3, but with upgraded parts)
- Nitro RS4 MT 2 18SS (a kit version of the Nitro RS4 MT 2, but with upgraded parts)
- Pro 4 Atsushi Hara Edition
- R40 Hara Edition
- Sprint Drift
- Savage Limited Edition
- KFX 700 (Savage chassis with quad bike body and rider figure)
- Sprint 2
- Hellfire (an all-new 'truggy' design, in RTR format)
- Savage X
- Baja 5B
- Hellfire SS (a kit version of the Hellfire)
- Savage X SS K4.6 (a kit version of the Savage X)
- E-Savage (a 1/10 scale dual electric motor/battery Savage)
- Wheely King
- Firestorm 10T
[edit] Diecast Car Models
In 2006, HPI released high-specification diecast car models in 1:43 scale. The first line of models featured the 2004 Subaru Impreza in various models, including official replicas of the World Rally Championship Subaru Impreza WRX, an HPI-sponsored Subaru WRX endurance race car based in Japan, and two very limited (less than 50 worldwide) Impreza models, one white and one blue. Future releases will include 2006 versions of the Subaru Impreza, plus race cars including the Mazda 787B, Porsche 962, Lancia Stratos and Lancia 037.
[edit] Robots
Late in 2005, HPI created a teaser website at http://www.hpirobot.com, indicating they will release a robot of some type. Speculation continues on the type of robot to be released.
[edit] Latest Releases
The latest products from HPI are the HPI Savage X, Hellfire, and Firestorm 10T nitro trucks, as well as the Baja 5B 1/5th scale gas buggy, the E-Savage, and the Wheely King 2wd stunt truck.
