The DeLorean DMC-12 was originally designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro of ItalDesign in Turin, Italy. For the Mattel Hot Wheels release, the car was re-created by Manson Cheung; despite having sculpted many Hot Wheels into 3D models in the past this was his first Hot Wheels design.

Text on the back of the packaging reads "Italian designed and British engineered, this American dream car with gull-wing doors, rear engine and stainless steel body was a sports car unlike anything else on the roads in the 1980s - or today!"

In 1985, Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis made the car a pop-culture icon in the sci-fi classic Back To The Future, in which it is portrayed as a time machine.