Automobile Magazine

Automobile Magazine

Automobile magazine is an automobile magazine in the United States and is owned by Source Interlink. It was founded by a group of former employees of Car and Driver magazine, led by that publication's former editor, David E. Davis, and originally published by News Corporation. Automobile distinguishes itself as more of a lifestyle magazine than the other automotive publications, an editorial theme that Davis greatly expanded upon from his tenure as the editor of Car and Driver.

Unlike most other automobile magazines, Automobile does not often do instrumented tests of cars or provide much technical data. Instead, the reviews of vehicles are subjective experiential reports with the cars in their naturally intended, real world environment. Additionally, Automobile reserves a good portion of each issue covering vehicles no longer in production, but still relevant to collectors or automotive history as a whole. For example, it includes features such as "Collectable Classic," an in-depth review of a particular older car, and reports from recent classic and antique car auctions. It also has a regular column by former General Motors designer Robert Cumberford, who analyzes styling elements of current production models and show cars, often linking their design to those of older cars.

Automobile magazine is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the building which formerly housed famous college dive bar, The Pretzel Bell, and is published by Source Interlink Media, the same publishing corporation that publishes Motor Trend. Davis retired in recent years and the current president and editor-in-chief is Jean Jennings, who helped Davis found the magazine. Davis later served as the editor of Winding Road magazine, an online automotive magazine.

While editor of Automobile, Jean Jennings was featured in a “video news release” produced for GM and shown on local television as if it were an actual news story.

The name is also employed in France by an unrelated magazine called L’Automobile Magazine, which was founded in 1946; the American magazine began publishing in April 1986. The French magazine now belongs to the German Motor Presse Stuttgart group.