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AUTOMOBILE

MAG.COM

@automobilemag

EDITOR’S LETTER

VOLUME 34, NO.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

AS WE STARTED bolting together our annual look at what

we believe to be the best new cars, trucks, and SUVs the

automotive world has to offer, it hit me: five years.

Dang, has it really been that long? I’m not huge on an-

niversaries, and the Big 5 isn’t exactly a momentous mile-

stone in the grand scheme. But as I began to ruminate on

my tenure at the helm of the USS Automobile, I was struck

by how much things have changed, not just at our publica-

tion but for the industry as a whole.

Nowhere has the pace been more breakneck than in the

electric-powered vehicle space. Back in September 2014,

Tesla was just starting to gain its footing thanks to its break-

through Model S, a car that gobsmacked me

the first time I drove it. Here was an American

startup, fronted by a charismatic and eccentric

CEO named Elon Musk, that in a flash had

flipped an entire industry on its roof.

Mainstream automakers that had been

slow-pedaling the development of EVs for

decades with what amounted to little more

than low-volume experiments and quota fill-

ers suddenly started tripping over electrical

cords in a headlong rush to bring truly viable,

series-production vehicles to market. Flipping

through the pages of this year’s installment of

our New and Future Cars section (starting

on page 24), it’s astonishing to see how many

are on the roads now or will be shortly. We

outlined several of them in last year’s section,

and now we have an even clearer picture of

what’s to come.

The best part is that several look like they’re going to be

bonkers fun to drive, chief among them the Porsche Tay-

can. Although Porsche has been no stranger to electrifica-

tion, with several plug-in hybrid versions of its core mod-

els and the 918 supercar, the Taycan will be its first true

electric-powered vehicle. We’ve anticipated this purebred

M

IK

E FL

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YD

Porsche EV sports car—and EV sports cars in general—for

some time, and we cannot wait to get behind the wheel of

the Taycan later this year.

Even one of the world’s most recognizable sports cars

hasn’t been immune to change. The eighth generation of

a rolling American treasure—the Chevrolet Corvette—has

finally been revealed, with what promises to be a polar-

izing twist. It’s been an open secret for the better part of

two years that the Corvette would switch to a mid-engine

layout; we (and everyone else in the industry) were so cer-

tain of it that we put our vision of what the new car would

look like on last year’s New and Future cover. Now it has

finally come into the light, and you can see it in all its glory

on page 34 and online at AutomobileMag.com, where we

have a fiberglass boatload worth of stories, video, and more

detailing the new car and celebrating everything Corvette.

For many (other than maybe Ford and Chrysler fans),

the ’Vette has come to symbolize American performance:

front engine, rear drive, unbridled power. That the Cor-

vette is changing so radically will be sacrilege to some, a

revelation to others. Oh, and General Motors has reported-

ly trademarked the name E-Ray, so it’s all but assured that

it will be electrified in some way soon enough.

One thing the all-new Corvette won’t come with too

much of is automated driving technology, but that’s another

area that accelerates quicker every year. One of my missions

since taking over as editor-in-chief has been to regularly

bring you features that inform about what’s happening in

the world of automation. It’s an area that has enormous

implications for the future of the automobile and how we

interact with it. Sure, we’re enthusiasts, but I firmly believe

it’s important to understand how technology is transform-

ing the driving experience and the face of

transportation, for better or worse.

As many of you know, we’ve also made a

number of major updates to how we bring

you words and photos in the past five years,

most notably relaunching the magazine’s

layout. As always, we remain committed to

delivering stories with impact and depth,

having some fun, and taking some chanc-

es. Everything we’ve tried has been with

you and with the brand’s founding ethos in

mind. We’ve also continued to make strides

with our digital efforts, and we hope you’ve

popped over to our site or social channels to

see how we do what we do outside of these

pages. We have even better things planned

for our slice of the online space.

Although there have been plenty of chal-

lenges, it has been an honor and a privilege to be the stew-

ard of this brand and to lead an incredibly talented group

of writers, editors, and designers, past and present. This is

more than just a nine-to-five, and for the past five, it’s been

one heck of a ride. I hope you’ll continue to sit shotgun

with us as we navigate through the momentous changes

to come. AM

CHANGE

FIVE

YEARS OF