NZ Autocar History – Three decades on and still going strong

Your favourite car magazine, NZ Autocar, can trace its history back further than most motoring publications in this country.

We’ve been around for decades now, having withstood the trials of various economic down turns and big corporate overseers.

As we head into 2024, we click over yet more magazine mileage on the odometer, and given people often ask how far back we go, we thought it was time to look back once again on what has been.

While the first issue of NZ Autocar appeared in 1996, the magazine’s history stretches further back still. Autocar was born from an amalgamation of Autonews and NZ Car titles.

The latter was first seen on the magazine stands around the country in June 1986, edited by Donn Anderson, so on a technical count back, the magazine can date back as far as 37 years.

However, the real core of the magazine dates from 1992, when Mark Petch and Allan Dick created Autonews, the January issue being the first.

The Petch and Dick partnership didn’t last long however, the latter would breakaway and form NZ Driver magazine in 1994.

That saw three new car magazines competing for readers in what was a small market.

While the public had few media options to choose from back then, given the Internet was yet to ruin the fabric of society, the titles were also competing for the same advertising dollars from an industry going through big changes of market de-regulation and the dismantling of local car assembly.

The NZ Car title came under the ownership of Wilson and Horton, then publishers of the NZ Herald, and then soon after, the amalgamation of Car and Autonews brought about the birth of NZ Autocar, with the final issue of Car being the April 1996 issue.

Autocar was first edited by Brian Cowan, the Editor at Large running things from Christchurch with a host of contributors helping turn out the editorial.

Some of those are still in the business like David Linklater and Richard Bosselman, while others have since retired; Rob Maetzig, Peter Gill, Adrian Blackburn.

Others such as Robin Curtis and Dave Moore have sadly passed away. Somewhat fittingly, it was during a car launch that Dave died; he went out doing what he loved the most.

Paul Owen took over as editor in 1998, lured away from his lifestyle block in Golden Bay to Auckland to ensconce himself in the chair.

Paul oversaw hundreds of road tests during his time, while throwing a leg over many bikes too.

He steered us through the glory days of magazine publishing, with at least eight of us in the office, not including the many contributors, as we produced large issues with as many as 170 pages. And many more adverts than you see today.

In 2007, Publisher Petch sold the title to Fairfax NZ which thrust us into the big corporate’s magazine division with titles like NZ Trucking and Fishing News and lifestyle magazines such as Life and Leisure and NZ House and Garden.

There, we beavered away happily until the corporate decided a restructuring of the business was necessary to stem the flow of red ink from other parts of its media empire.

Part of that saw Paul move to a contributor role, giving him more time to visit far flung places of the country on one his many bikes.

He had occupied the Editor’s chair for more than 10 years, maintaining a solid readership before the wheel was handed to Kyle Cassidy, his first issue being the October 2009 edition.

And he’s been there ever since, this issue being his 170th, give or take.

Peter Louisson has been around longer however, first joining NZ Autocar in May 2002, six months prior to Cassidy arriving.

The latter was a newbie however, while Louisson can lay claim to a much longer career. He vaguely recalls attending his first car launch in 1988, while cars tested number in the thousands, and there’s all the bikes he’s ridden over the decades too.

Rob Scott can claim to have been here even longer, his mileage on par with the company Bongo van; the stories that thing could tell.

While some of the magazine titles in the Fairfax stables didn’t survive, NZ Autocar managed to free itself from the crippling ‘management recharges’ of a company heavy with middle people contributing little real value.

NZ Autocar was purchased from the Fairfax beast, and was back in the hands of its original publisher, Mark Petch, along with partner and current GM, Gavin Shaw.

With its independence back, freed of overbearing management structures and general corporate BS, NZ Autocar could once again thrive.

Challenges abound in the modern publishing space, mainly around online activity.

It’s essential to maintain a presence here and one of the first initiatives the new owners put in place was an investment in a standalone website, having previously been lost in the generic news site Stuff.

This sees NZ Autocar now with a strong web presence primarily focused on new car releases and local industry news, while also providing retrospective reviews.

We’ve employed a dedicated news editor since its inception back in 2016, a role currently held by Harrison Wade.

It’s a balancing act however; we have to ensure the content is spread wide on the web while not sacrificing the premium product that is the printed issue.

The magazine is something readers love, something tangible they can hold in their hand and imbibe without the need of an Internet connection. It’s something our readers are willing to pay for the privilege of every month, and we are grateful for their ongoing support.

We like to think of our readers as ‘influencers’, car people that others seek advice from when purchasing new vehicles, giving our publication great reach.

For almost 20 years, the magazine’s features were brought to life via the photography of Tom Gasnier, whose skill with the camera and love of the automobile made the stories more appealing, helping put them in a New Zealand context.

Times change however and his departure has seen us employ a new photographer, Isaac Western, who is equally passionate about cars and this comes through in his excellent work too.

Isaac is also tasked with driving the social media interaction, that great distractor of the workday (yours, not his).

The Covid era was another challenge, but despite the Government’s actions (which Lord Winston’s new enquiry will no doubt get to the bottom of) to save us from ourselves, we managed to survive that too.

A pity that many other great NZ publications didn’t, remember Bauer’s great disappearance? But our independent, dedicated and 100 per cent Kiwi ownership is the key to our ongoing longevity and relevance.

Our team includes the aforementioned Gavin Shaw, the GM around here who is also concerned with all things commercial, while Alex Schultz has been responsible for the look and feel of the magazine for the past four years as our art director.

He too has a passion for the automobile being a weekend racer and lover of European marques, particularly those from Italy.

This year, our online presence will continue to grow as recently we have partnered with this country’s largest motoring website, Trade Me Motors, to supply reviews which will further expand our reach to a wider audience.

Lastly, another thank you to our loyal readers, the ones that keep us going, and will do for decades to come.

This article first appeared in the December/January issue of NZ Autocar magazine.