Scalextric started in the 50’s by an English firm that went by the name Minimodels. It was later sold to Hornby who still currently holds the name for most everywhere in the World. Hornby has a beautiful history and perhaps we can explore that in another article. For this we want to focus on the following: Where did SCX come from? Why does Scalextric look like it has two completely different product lines?
During the 60’s Hornby was having some financial troubles. EXIN also was aspiring to create one of the most forward-thinking slot car system and needed a name. Scalextric was then bought by EXIN but only had the rights in Spain. You can see the trouble with one of the fastest growing slot car systems on the market being stuck in only Spain. They needed to grow and needed a name they could sell worldwide. The name the selected was SCX. Scalextric/SCX. SCX/Scalextric Digital/WOS is NOT out of business. They are growing and just created the greatest digital system on the market today and we will do different article about that!
TLDR: Hornby in the early 60’s went through some financial troubles and didn’t buy the name “Scalextric” in Spain and it was bought by EXIN. Scalextric (in Spain) grew and needed a name they could sell in other markets and named the product SCX.