Page 14 - Motor Trend (April 2020)

NEWS I OPINION I GOSSIP I STUFF

Mark Rechtin
Reference Mark @markrechtin

here has not been a coup d’état. But if you happen
to have noticed a change in the MotorTrend mast-
head, I am the new editor-in-chief. But I am not
new to these pages, having served as executive
Teditor for the past three-plus years and imple-
menting our editorial mission shoulder to shoulder
with Ed Loh.
So where’s Ed? He’s still very much at the head of the
ship, enjoying the executive fridge and the other perks
that come with being promoted to head of editorial for
the entirety of MotorTrend Group. All 22 titles under
our corporate aegis now fall under Ed’s purview—from
Automobile to Super Street and Hot Rod to FourWheeler.
Rest assured, Ed will still be a presence here. He retains
an editor-at-large title, and he will appear from time to
time to collaborate on major MT events, including Best
Driver’s Car and Car of the Year. Although we all hope
he will grant us his byline from time to time, when you
are overseeing 22 publications, there aren’t a lot of hours
left to drive Corvettes and Porsches up Route 198. We all
wish him well in his promotion to master of the realm.
As for me, before I joined MotorTrend, I was the cars
team leader for Consumer Reports, and for the 20 years
before that, I was a writer and editor for Automotive
News—collecting a few investigative reporting and
industry analysis awards along the way.
But underneath the thick skin of a business reporter vehicles as opposed to yet another comparison test Meet the mature,
buttoned-down
lies the soul of a petrol-sniffing, knuckle-busting, of routine but vital mall-crawling SUVs. There will be
new editor-in-chief
throttle-flooring motoring enthusiast. I’ve evaluated spirited debates as to how much we cover electrified of MotorTrend.
more than 2,500 cars, trucks, SUVs, and motorcycles vehicles (as in this issue) versus wallet-friendly cross-
in my career. My wife and I have raised a Ducati 900SS overs or old-school, tire-shredding, big-displacement
and 748 Monoposto, two BMW 3 sedans (E30 and F30), muscle cars. And there will be a smattering of automotive
four Volvo bricks, a 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera, eccentricities, because cars are fun, damn it.
and a rust-bitten 1974 Alfa Romeo Spider. I That sort of variety is what makes the job
resurrected a Datsun 240Z from a junkyard challenging, because we write about motor
then sold it to a former boss (revenge is a dish trends. It’s right there in our name.
best served carbureted), who drove it around Journalism’s purpose is to illuminate what’s
Mexico for many inexplicable years. I had a important as well as what’s popular. As a
piece of crashed Formula 1 carbon fiber whizz writer and editor, my goal is to honor the MT
a foot over my head while covering the Phoenix reader’s intelligence, devotion, and curiosity
F1 Grand Prix back in the day. when we write about all things automotive.
I wholeheartedly believe that exhaustive vehicle testing For the same reason I believe it’s more fun to drive a slow
is MotorTrend’s forte, and no one does it as well (or as car fast than a fast car slow, I value writing that challenges
regularly, or as thoroughly) as we do. We will continue to precepts and turns conventional wisdom on its ear. We
be at the forefront as information experts, informing our will pursue “Wait, what?” stories and narratives that
readers of the most important vehicles coming from the unearth unimagined aspects of the car business.
world’s automakers, the events surrounding the industry, There’s a long-standing saying in journalism: “Every-
and the people who make the car business go vroom body needs an editor.” In my case, I’ll have a million of you
vroom. We’re going to break the news and sometimes in that role. Reach out to me via Twitter @MarkRechtin
even make the news. And we’ll be opinionated about it. (mind that you don’t trip over the soccer talk), or shoot
In my time at MT, I have become accustomed to the an email to MotorTrend@MotorTrend.com. Let us know
wrestling over how much we write about lottery-fantasy how we’re doing. Q

14 MOTORTREND.COM APRIL 2020