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HomeKeith Crain

Keith Crain

Automotive News tends to emphasize access journalism
Media Analysis

Retiring editor does the old soft-shoe routine

March 5, 2019 Steve 0

Richard A. Johnson (2019) recently offered wry reflections about his 35 years at Automotive News. It’s a fitting coda for a longtime reporter and editor of a trade journal that covers such a powerful and […]

Monkey seeing some evil
Media Analysis

All-time best climate change coverage by auto media?

December 1, 2018 Steve 0

A notable exception to the automotive media’s lack of attention to climate change was a package of stories Automotive News published in 2007. No, not last month or last year — a decade ago. Let’s […]

Audi R8 engine
Media Analysis

Keith Crain: They’re coming to take our fast cars!

June 22, 2018 Steve 0

Keith Crain sounds sad. The editor-in-chief of Automotive News predicts that governments will “do their best to try to ban any vehicles that have even the slightest hint of performance using conventional fuels such as gasoline” (Crain, […]

Drive-by musings
Drive-By Musings

Why did it take 50 years for Nader to be inducted?

August 2, 2016 Steve 0

Ralph Nader has been inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame 50 years after he launched a high-profile — and highly successful — questioning of automobile safety. The Hall of Fame noted that Nader’s best-selling […]

2016 Toyota Prius styling is out of this world -- literally
Satire

Sci-fi design of 2016 Toyota Prius draws debate

June 27, 2016 Steve 0

AUTOMOTIVE VIEWS NEWSWIRE — If the 2016 Toyota Prius strikes you as out of this world, that’s on purpose. The normally staid Toyota Motor Corp. decided that the fourth-generation Prius needed space-age swoopiness to go […]

Early-50s Cadillac taillight in fin
History

When GM was king and 10 million was blue sky

February 27, 2015 Steve 1

Keith Crain’s prevously-mentioned Automotive News column illustrates how dramatically expectations have changed about industry volume. In 2014 sales hit 16.5 million units. That was only good for ninth place in the record books. Crain (2014) noted that […]

Media Analysis

Automotive News muffles the alarm

January 29, 2015 Steve 0

Keith Crain is the closest thing the American auto industry has to a minister of groupthink, so it is worth noting when the editor-in-chief of Automotive News furrows his brow. In a late-December column he criticized […]

Posts pagination

« 1 2
  • 1965 Studebaker Cruiser proposal
    Car Life speculates about why Studebaker shut down its South Bend plant
    July 17, 2026 8
  • 1956 Lincoln
    The 1956 Lincoln’s styling proved to be a one-year wonder
    July 17, 2026 18
  • 1975 Mercedes-Benz 450 SL
    1975 Mercedes-Benz 450 SL lacked the taut brilliance of its predecessor
    July 14, 2026 6
  • 1988 Oldsmobile Toronado
    Did GM go too far in downsizing the 1986 Riviera, Toronado and Eldorado?
    July 10, 2026 16
  • J. 'Kelly' Flory Jr.
    J. ‘Kelly’ Flory Jr.’s American Cars series is pricey but valuable
    July 10, 2026 4
  • 1968 Pontiac Firebird green convertible
    1967-72 Pontiac Firebird shows limits of ad illustrations
    July 7, 2026 10
  • Miscellaneous ramblings about being on the road
    June 25, 2026 5
  • Internet problems reminded me of U.S. automakers in the 1970s
    May 2, 2026 1
  • 1956 Buick hood scoop
    Readers brainstorm ideas for future Indie Auto stories
    October 14, 2022 141
Society of Automotive Historian award to Indie Auto

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