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 Cover of 6 November 2024 issue | |
| Editor | Mark Tisshaw |
|---|---|
| Categories | Automobile |
| Frequency | Weekly |
| Circulation | 14,366 (Jan–Dec 2023)[1] |
| Publisher | Haymarket Media Group |
| Founded | 1895; 130 years ago (1895) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Website | www |
| ISSN | 1355-8293 |
Autocar (stylized inall caps) is a weekly Britishautomobile magazine published byHaymarket Media Group. It was first published in 1895[2] and refers to itself as "the world's oldest car magazine".[3] Mark Tisshaw is editor and other team members include Steve Cropley, Rachel Burgess, James Attwood, Matt Prior, Matt Saunders and Felix Page.
Autocar has several international editions, including China, India, New Zealand, and South Africa.
The publication was launched asThe Autocar byIliffe and Son Ltd.[4] "in the interests of the mechanically propelled road carriage" on 2 November 1895 when, it is believed, there were only six or seven cars in the United Kingdom.L. J. K. Setright[5] suggests that the magazine was set up byHenry Sturmey as an organ of propaganda forHarry J. Lawson, founder of theDaimler Company and a journalist on the magazine in its early days. Henry Sturmey stood down as editor ofThe Autocar magazine and left the company in 1901.[6]
Autocar claims to have invented the road test in 1928 when it analysed theAustin 7Gordon England Sunshine Saloon.Autocar has been published weekly throughout its life with only strikes in the 1970s interrupting its frequency.
The magazine's name was changed fromThe Autocar toAutocar at the start of 1962.
In 1988Autocar absorbed the rival magazineMotor, with which it had done battle on the newsstands since 1903. From the 7 September 1988 issue the magazine becameAutocar & Motor. It reverted toAutocar for the 21 September 1994 issue.
The magazine has scored many firsts in its history, including the first full road tests and independent performance tests of theJaguar XJ220,McLaren F1, and thePorsche 911 GT1.
It was also the first magazine to produce independently recorded performance figures for theBugatti Veyron, which were published in the 31 May 2006 issue.
In 2023,Autocar digitised its entire archive dating back to 1895. TheAutocar Archive is available to subscribers online.
In the 1950s, the magazine's sport editor,John Cooper, usedCooper T11 parts to create theCooper-Alta.[7] FormerAutocar writers includeRussell Bulgin,Chris Harris, and formerTop Gear presenterJames May.[8]
In 1992, May was fired fromAutocar after he added anacrostic into the 1992 "Road Test Yearbook". May had to write every review in the issue. Each spread featured four reviews and each review started with a big red capital letter known as a rubricatedinitial. May was bored and to alleviate the boredom, he wrote the reviews so the first four spreads would spell the words "ROAD", "TEST", "YEAR" and "BOOK". The other pages had another acrostic but that was not immediately recognizable as it was spread over the rest of the magazine, spelling seemingly random letters starting with "SOYO" and "UTHI". After it was published, readers discovered it. This was the one that got James May fired because it used profanity. The message, when punctuated was: "So you think it's really good, yeah? You should try making the bloody thing up; it's a real pain in the arse."[9]
CurrentAutocar writers include Richard Bremner, used car expert James Ruppert, Editor at Large Matt Prior and Editor in Chief Steve Cropley.
The current editor is Mark Tisshaw, a former deputy editor, news editor and reporter for the magazine.[10]
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Autocar has been licensed to publishers around the world, and is now published in sixteen countries outside the United Kingdom, including China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and Vietnam.[22]
