14 MOTORTREND.COM APRIL 2020Mark Rechtin
Reference Mark
NEWS I OPINION I GOSSIP I STUFF
@markrechtin
T
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
editor 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
lies the soul of a petrol-sniffing, knuckle-busting,
throttle-flooring motoring enthusiast. I’ve evaluated
more than 2,500 cars, trucks, SUVs, and motorcycles
in my career. My wife and I have raised a Ducati 900SS
and 748 Monoposto, two BMW 3 sedans (E30 and F30),
four Volvo bricks, a 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera,
and a rust-bitten 1974 Alfa Romeo Spider. I
resurrected a Datsun 240Z from a junkyard
then sold it to a former boss (revenge is a dish
best served carbureted), who drove it around
Mexico for many inexplicable years. I had a
piece of crashed Formula 1 carbon fiber whizz
a foot over my head while covering the Phoenix
F1 Grand Prix back in the day.
I wholeheartedly believe that exhaustive vehicle testing
is MotorTrend’s forte, and no one does it as well (or as
regularly, or as thoroughly) as we do. We will continue to
be at the forefront as information experts, informing our
readers of the most important vehicles coming from the
world’s automakers, the events surrounding the industry,
and the people who make the car business go vroom
vroom. We’re going to break the news and sometimes
even make the news. And we’ll be opinionated about it.
In my time at MT, I have become accustomed to the
wrestling over how much we write about lottery-fantasyvehicles as opposed to yet another comparison test
of routine but vital mall-crawling SUVs. There will be
spirited debates as to how much we cover electrified
vehicles (as in this issue) versus wallet-friendly cross-
overs or old-school, tire-shredding, big-displacement
muscle cars. And there will be a smattering of automotive
eccentricities, because cars are fun, damn it.
That sort of variety is what makes the job
challenging, because we write about motor
trends. It’s right there in our name.
Journalism’s purpose is to illuminate what’s
important as well as what’s popular. As a
writer and editor, my goal is to honor the MT
reader’s intelligence, devotion, and curiosity
when we write about all things automotive.
For the same reason I believe it’s more fun to drive a slow
car fast than a fast car slow, I value writing that challenges
precepts and turns conventional wisdom on its ear. We
will pursue “Wait, what?” stories and narratives that
unearth unimagined aspects of the car business.
There’s a long-standing saying in journalism: “Every-
body needs an editor.” In my case, I’ll have a million of you
in that role. Reach out to me via Twitter @MarkRechtin
(mind that you don’t trip over the soccer talk), or shoot
an email to [email protected]. Let us know
how we’re doing. QMeet the mature,
buttoned-down
new editor-in-chief
of MotorTrend.