Corgi Toys - Legacy

Legacy

The Corgi story does not end in the mid-1980s, however, as a management buy-out saw the company re-formed as Corgi Toys Limited in March 1984. This company continued to produce model vehicles, but in smaller numbers than before. The workforce grew but the costs of running the factory at the Fforestfach site had become higher. Competition was now wholly in the form of products which were being manufactured overseas leading to management moving some of the moulds to China and setting up a joint venture company with a Hong Kong company called Flying Dragon. At the same time it took on contract work producing non-toy items. In 1989 the management sold the Corgi brand to Mattel and the factory was retained under the name of Microlink Industries Ltd. The products of the Mettoy owned company continue to be prized by collectors worldwide. In recent years the internet has allowed a far wider collector-base than in the past when swapmeets and antique markets were the only places they could be found.