On Friday, September 13, 2024, Autoblog.com car news site will cease to exist. The site that started with the philosophy of covering every bit of automotive news is shutting down after 20 years. And while we sometimes have a confrontational relationship with the ‘Blog, you won’t find a Jalopnik alum who doesn’t agree that Autoblog and the great people who work there deserve better.
I started my automotive writing career at AOL Autos (I knew it), which shared an office and owner with Autoblog. Eventually, the two teams merged into one in what was probably one of the most dramatic meetings I’ve ever witnessed, with Sharon Carty taking over as Editor-in-Chief for the upstart site. It was at both sites that I learned the ropes of the business and befriended my first automotive journalist, Steve Ewing (you really couldn’t ask for a better friend, in life or in the business.) I got to work with some of the industry’s greats like John Neff and Road & Track current editors Mike Austin and Sharon Carty, who has come under so much criticism for being editor-in-chief and being a woman that it has caused a minor scandal.
I’ve been fortunate to work for two of the greatest internet publications ever. When I worked at Autoblog, we used to say in meetings, “Don’t do anything too Jalopniky,” so when I immediately went to Jalopnik, I was quite surprised to hear, “Don’t do that, this isn’t Autoblog.” The rivalry stemmed from a fundamental philosophical difference in how we approached the industry at the time, but that’s just fun. The community of auto writers is small and familiar. Sure, there’s the occasional racist creepy uncle you want to avoid, but for the most part, they’re good people trying their best to serve their readers.
I reached out to some of the nice people who wrote to Autoblog about their favorite Autoblog memories. I’ll start with mine: When Steve Ewing and I drove halfway across the country after only knowing each other for a few weeks. I love long drives, and he wanted company, so we tried it out together. At the time, Autoblog had two long-term test vehicles, a Hyundai Veloster in Detroit and a Mazda6 in California. Ewing figured it would be cheaper to drive halfway across the country and meet in the middle. On that trip, we bonded over watching pirated episodes of “The Simpsons” in cheap motel rooms in the middle of the cow country, driving the entire length of Nebraska twice in one day, and getting dirty looks from gas station attendants in the middle of the country. It was also the beginning of our speeding ticket wall, where we post violations like local tackle shops post big catches.
But there were so many others. We would cover auto shows like we were covering a war. We were on a mission to cover everything in a positive way. It was a form of full-contact automotive journalism that I really miss. Then we’d go to whiskey bars and toast to a job well done before getting up at 6 a.m. and doing it all again. Or the weeklong trips we’d take as a team to northern Michigan just to test cars. It always felt like a family reunion.
Here’s what some others have to say about their time at Autoblog over the years:
Current staff say final goodbyes
It’s a cliché to say it’s the journey, not the destination, or whatever. But that remains true as Autoblog enters its next chapter.
In this case, we’re leaving the site in the hands of new hands, as Autoblog will continue under new ownership. But the legacy is our 20-year journey of “obsessively covering the auto industry.”
The staff has grown over time and there are many talented writers who have contributed to Autoblog’s success and longevity.
The website was launched on June 1, 2004and went on to chronicle the most tumultuous two decades the industry has seen in the past 100 years.
In us 20th Anniversary PostWe’ve covered some raw numbers: there are currently nearly 159,000 posts, 43,000 photo galleries, and 848 podcasts. We’ve created at least 5,000 videos, including shows like The List that have appeared on television.
We have recognized more than 10 Technology of the year winners, track-tested and off-road-tested exotic sports cars to every corner of the Earth, from Patagonia to Iceland, Willow Springs to the Nürburgring. And everywhere in between. Our columns, buying guides, reviews, videos and car-buying resources have built one of the most influential sites in the automotive world.
But our news feed—the blog—has made Autoblog a must-read for enthusiasts of all stripes. From the tuner who adds a new wing or exhaust to their aging Civic or Charger, to the top-tier outfitters of Renaissance Center and Glass House daily auto news updates, Autoblog has stood the test of time as a resource for everyone.
Perhaps the best way to end this post is to simply thank you, the reader, for 20 wonderful years. May the road be bright.
John Neff – Former Editor-in-Chief
I was the Editor-in-Chief of Autoblog for most of its first 10 years, from about 2004 to 2014. During that time, Autoblog and Jalopnik fought tooth and nail for traffic dominance. If memory serves me right, we often won, but I’m now celebrating our site on Jalopnik’s servers, so maybe we didn’t win that battle.
I owe everything I have to Autoblog. I started there as a freelance blogger making, I think, $15 a post. Then I was pushed into the EIC role, then given a full-time position with a salary, then put in charge of other salaried people, and the next thing I knew, this little site with the word “blog” in its name started to grow, exponentially.
Thanks to my reputation on Autoblog, I got my next two jobs, both of which required me to learn everything I needed to run that little blog successfully.
The main thing I learned is that a site like Autoblog or Jalopnik or Motor1 (my last old site) isn’t really run by someone’s editorial vision. Instead, what comes out on the site is a mishmash of personalities from a bunch of people who work too hard for too little pay because they really like talking about cars.
How good a website is depends almost entirely on the group of people you assemble to create it and how they feel about it. If they feel protected, valued, and safe, the digital conversation they create can be both great and wonderful. If they feel anxious, frustrated, and exposed, the website will struggle.
I haven’t been connected to Autoblog in 10 years. It’s gone through many owners in that time and seen a lot of people come through its doors since I left. The deep sense of ownership I had when I ran the site is gone, too, long since overturned by decisions that I would disagree with.
The worst part is that no one seems to know exactly what will happen to Autoblog when the last person turns off the lights and locks the doors. The general consensus seems to be that AI bots will come into the newsroom and create search-optimized articles to prank Google. Is that a fate worse than death for a brand that my friends and I have spent so much time building?
Maybe. I don’t know. What I do know is that a lot of digital brands are being bought and sold these days, and the new owners don’t give anything back to the people who built and maintained them, except a pink slip of paper. So my advice to any readers is, when a site you like is bought, move on to another site, preferably one that has a history of treating its editors, writers, photographers, art designers, project managers, SEOs, affiliates, and developers with respect.
Mike Austin – Former Editor-in-Chief
Oh my gosh, it’s sad to see Autoblog become another zombie VC site. What I miss most is how much I enjoyed working with everyone there. I think we had a really positive atmosphere in the editorial department. It was the only way to cope with the pressure of all the stories and videos we were doing.
Looking back, it’s hard to believe that we were all running as hard as we could all the time. It was stupid, unsustainable on so many fronts, and wouldn’t have been nearly possible without so many amazing people coming together to support us. Back then, you could really make a difference by publishing first or having a great story (and totally shamelessly promoting Erin saving us every month with that sweet AOL home page traffic). But we were also just told to run as fast as we could. We had this crazy one-year mandate to increase traffic by 30%, and I remember asking where that number came from and being told that we just had to hit that goal.
It was my first time managing a large team. I hope I did a good job of making people feel valued and supported, but I also want to say that now, many lifetimes later, the wisdom and calm I have today will come in handy. I would definitely push back on some of the crap from above. And also make sure that the entire site redesign — which was not my fault and still haunts me to this day — actually got some live user testing before it went live.
It was fun, I enjoyed my short time there, and I’m proud of what everyone built. And, ultimately, it’s a shame that Car Boom isn’t a viral video phenomenon.
Steve Ewing – Former Editor-in-Chief
I spent seven years at Autoblog, right around the time the site went from “a messy internet blog that likes to throw silly speech bubbles at cars” to “a professional outlet that you better take seriously or they’ll eat your lunch.” We laughed. We cried. We chain-smoked outside auto shows. But most importantly, we worked hard to provide the most comprehensive coverage of all things automotive and get it out there.
I learned to be a better writer and editor thanks to Autoblog. I met lifelong friends (hi, Erin!) thanks to Autoblog. I created inside jokes at Autoblog that I still creeping into the stories, after all these years.
I wouldn’t be who I am – personally and professionally – without Autoblog. Farewell to a real person.
