Corgi Toys (trademark) is the brand name of a range of die-cast toy vehicles created by Mettoy and currently owned by Hornby.[1]

The Mettoy ("Metal Toy") company was founded in 1933 by German émigré Philip Ullmann in Northampton, England, where he was later joined by South African–born German Arthur Katz, who had previously worked for Ullmann at his toy company Tipp and Co of Nuremberg. After dabbling for some years in the model car market, they decided to produce a range of die-cast toy vehicles as competition to Meccano's Dinky model cars, which had dominated the British market for many years. "Corgi Toys" were introduced in the UK in July 1956 and were manufactured in Swansea, Wales, for 27 years before the company went into liquidation. A management buy-out re-formed the company as Corgi Toys Limited in March 1984. In 1989, the management sold the Corgi brand to Mattel and the factory was retained under the name of "Microlink Industries Ltd". In 1995, Corgi regained its independence as a new company, Corgi Classics Limited, and moved to new premises in Leicester. The Corgi brand was acquired by Hornby in 2008.[1]

The range was exported worldwide and sold in large numbers. Some of the best known and most popular models were of cars made famous in film and television such as the Batmobile, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 – which remains the largest selling toy car ever produced. Although the largest single vehicle type featured in the Corgi Toys range were models of cars from manufacturers around the world, this article sub-divides vehicles into genres, wherever possible, to allow a more detailed look at the variety of models produced by the company.

In 1995, Corgi regained its independence as a new company, "Corgi Classics Limited", and moved to new premises in Leicester. Corgi Classics turned to British television for model ideas, and soon released models such as Mr. Bean's Mini, Inspector Morse's Jaguar and later models based on Enid Blyton's Noddy tales. A variety of firms ranging from Cadbury's chocolate to Guinness beer to Eddie Stobart haulage have had Corgi scale models made of their road vehicles. In 1995 Corgi introduced a new range of 1/76th scale UK and Hong Kong bus models under the "Original Omnibus Company" banner; by 2007, the total number of individual model releases in this sub-range had exceeded eight hundred.

In 1999 Corgi Classics Limited was taken over by Zindart, an American collectors specialists. By 2000, as in the 1960s, Corgi was once again the top British model maker. That same year, Corgi bought the rights to the Lledo name (and many of the moulds), taking over the popular Days Gone series. The Vanguards series was also acquired in the deal. Days Gone and Vanguards models were sold by Corgi under the Lledo moniker until 2004, after which the Lledo name was dropped and the models officially became part of the Corgi Classics line.

In 1999, Corgi debuted the Aviation Archive line of diecast military aeroplanes. Beginning with 1/144 scale, Corgi created one of the most expansive and widely collected lines of highly detailed limited edition collectable die-cast metal aircraft. This line has been expanded in successive years to include new moulds and liveries and even new scales, such as the super-detailed 1/32 scale Aviation Archive line. Corgi followed with a new line of 1/50 scale armoured vehicles ranging from World War II up to through the Vietnam War. In 2006, Corgi began selling hand painted, spin-cast metal figures and soldiers in the Forward March series which complements their 1/32 and 1/50 scale lines of vehicles.

In May 2008, international models and collectables group Hornby announced the acquisition of Corgi Classics Limited for £8.3 million.[1] Under Hornby ownership the Corgi brand underwent a rebrand in 2012, this saw the introduction of a new logo and style of packaging, however the main element reasoning behind the change was the relaunch of Corgi Toys.

In 2019 a new series was launched called: CORGI CHUNKIES is new range of toys with moving interactive parts, free-rolling, soft-tyred wheels, left and right hand drive and a strong child-proof build. The chunkies models were designed by Hanan Shpetrick.

The Panzerkampfwagen IV (Pz.Kpfw. IV), commonly known as the Panzer IV, was a German medium tank developed in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 161.

The Panzer IV was the most numerous German tank and the second-most numerous German fully tracked armoured fighting vehicle of the Second World War; 8,553 Panzer IVs of all versions were built during World War II, only exceeded by the StuG III assault gun with 10,086 vehicles. Its chassis was also used as the base for many other fighting vehicles, including the Sturmgeschütz IV assault gun, the Jagdpanzer IV self-propelled anti-tank gun, the Wirbelwind self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, and the Brummbär self-propelled gun.

The Panzer IV saw service in all combat theatres involving Germany and was the only German tank to remain in continuous production throughout the war. It was originally designed for infantry support, while the similar Panzer III was to fight armoured fighting vehicles. However, as the Germans faced the formidable T-34, the Panzer IV had more development potential, with a larger turret ring to mount more powerful guns, so it swapped roles with the Panzer III whose production wound down in 1943. The Panzer IV received various upgrades and design modifications, intended to counter new threats, extending its service life. Generally, these involved increasing the armour protection or upgrading the weapons, although during the last months of the war, with Germany's pressing need for rapid replacement of losses, design changes also included simplifications to speed up the manufacturing process.

The Panzer IV was partially succeeded by the Panther medium tank, which was introduced to counter the Soviet T-34, although it continued to be a significant component of German armoured formations to the end of the war. It was the most widely exported tank in German service, with around 300 sold to Finland, Romania, Spain and Bulgaria. After the war, Syria procured Panzer IVs from France and Czechoslovakia, which saw combat in the 1967 Six-Day War.