From the chair: August 2018

From the chair: August 2018

by | Aug 1, 2018 | From the Chair

This month will see the annual meeting of the motoring writers’ groups and motor industry companies. While I know Kieron Fennelly will be representing thewesterngroup and has a few points to make on our behalf, I don’t know who will be attending and speaking for the...
From the chair: July 2018

From the chair: July 2018

by | Jul 2, 2018 | From the Chair

This is the holiday season and quite a few of us will be driving to or through France. As usual we can enjoy the better roads and apart from the usual bottlenecks, less traffic, but beware: the French have reduced national speed limit on single carriageway roads to...
From the chair: June 2018

From the chair: June 2018

by | Jun 3, 2018 | From the Chair

It’s almost here.  THE best-kept secret in the automotive calendar emerges from its temperate state deep in the Cheddar Gorge caves on Wednesday 6 June. Then, the ageless army from thewesterngroup membership will muster at Castle Combe Circuit for the...
From the chair: May 2018

From the chair: May 2018

by | May 1, 2018 | From the Chair

I recently attended an event organised by a ‘premium’ manufacturer for journalists to try some of its increasingly wide range. The company’s PR supremo informed the gathering that not only was his the ‘leading’ premium brand, but if you added up all the horsepower of...
From the chair: April 2018

From the chair: April 2018

by | Apr 9, 2018 | From the Chair

There is a reason that a clock-face is circular: time goes around. On a different scale of time, so does thewesterngroup driving day, the PR Day for the industry to let its hair down and enjoy its products. Registration is well underway for this year’s #DD2018 on 6...
From the chair: March 2018

From the chair: March 2018

by | Mar 5, 2018 | From the Chair

In an age when information is efficiently disseminated via the Internet and product reveals have become theatrical productions in their own right, I really don’t see the point of modern motor shows. With the Geneva show kicking off the European season, I’m tempted to...
From the chair: February 2018

From the chair: February 2018

by | Feb 1, 2018 | From the Chair

I’ve long held the tongue in cheek view that, once a manufacturer wheels out a range of heritage vehicles on a product launch, it’s game over for the newer, shiny stuff.  Why? If your head isn’t turned by a slice of well-preserved nostalgia you might want to...

From the chair: January 2018

by | Jan 1, 2018 | From the Chair

From a professional perspective I won’t be sad to see the back of 2017.  No doubt such a bold, albeit negative, statement isn’t exactly what you’ve settled down to read, but I feel it’s worth saying. Before I put you right off your remaining mince pie, let me...

From the chair: December 2017

by | Dec 1, 2017 | From the Chair

I write this post-Budget, or ‘Autumn Statement’ in new money. If there’s one thing the Government – any government – fails to understand it’s the issues motorists and businesses have to deal with on a regular basis. Watching from the sidelines this year, I saw...
From the chair: November 2017

From the chair: November 2017

by | Nov 6, 2017 | From the Chair

In a few days I will be handing over the reins of thewesterngroup to a new chairman, and it’s with pride I slip from the saddle.  Over the last two years we have held a couple of memorable driving days and enjoyed a number of events put on for the group by our...

From the chair: October 2017

by | Oct 2, 2017 | From the Chair

Last month I aired the concerns of both journalists and PR professionals who are coping with the rise of “influencers” and paid-for blogs which are distorting the motoring scene. Paid for supplied editorial has been with us for decades in various forms but generally...

From the chair: September 2017

by | Sep 1, 2017 | From the Chair

Everyone can see a revolution coming to our roads and the automotive industry within a generation, and this is going to be accompanied by a quieter change in the way we cover that momentous event as motoring journalists. The days of the pure motoring writer who was...

From the chair: August 2017

by | Aug 1, 2017 | From the Chair

So, the car as we know it is going to be dead inside a generation by 2040.  Somehow I think not.  The continuing story of the automobile since the 1880s has been driven by evolution and I cannot see this changing despite the Stelvio statements of Governments...

From the chair: July 2017

by | Jul 3, 2017 | From the Chair

The awards’ season is in full flow but there is one very important potential category which is overlooked, yet it’s the staple of both PR and motoring journalists. Depending on the sponsoring business or media, a vehicle manufacturer can be virtually guaranteed a gong...

From the chair: June 2017

by | Jun 1, 2017 | From the Chair

It’s been an interesting month in May with impressive and not so impressive new technology making itself felt. To start with, or not as the case proved, a remote key-fob decided to go off-grid and not work, fortunately leaving me stranded no further than from my front...
From the chair: May 2017

From the chair: May 2017

by | May 2, 2017 | From the Chair

Registration is underway for the globally unique DD2017 event by thewesterngroup for PR colleagues in the automotive industry. Even before the new on-line registration website was up and running we were having requests from the industry to allocate  people and...