AutoBeat: Coda

Gardner Automotive Editor Gary Vasilash

In the early spring of 2020 we launched what you are looking at right now, a new and improved version of the AutoBeat website. 

Some of you may remember when AutoBeat was something delivered each business day as a fax. Some of you may not have the slightest idea of what a fax is. Things change. 

Back in 1934 a magazine was established named Production. As time went on, Production morphed into other titles, including Automotive Production, Automotive Manufacturing & Production, and Automotive Design & Production. In the early spring of 2020 it became AutoBeat. Things change. 

Today, as a result of the economic impact of COVID-19, something that wasn’t considered by us in the early spring of 2020, AutoBeat is done. Things change. 

There is no more AutoBeat Group. No more AutoBeat Daily, AutoBeat Driver, AutoBeat Magazine, AutoBeatOnline.com. All operations are ended. Things change. 

AutoBeat was a brand of Gardner Business Media. According to Rick Kline, Jr., president of the company, “This decision was a difficult one because we have been—and are committed to—coverage of the auto industry.” That won’t change. 

Gardner has a portfolio of brands, including Modern Machine Shop, MoldMaking Technology, Production Machining, Additive Manufacturing, Plastics Technology, Products Finishing and CompositesWorld. Part of their coverage includes automotive. That won’t change. 

I’ve been with Gardner for 35 years. I am sticking around. That won’t change. 

But let’s face it: Things change. 

Some for the good. Some for the bad. Some change we create. Some change happens regardless of what we would prefer. 

Over the past couple of decades, I would like to think that we have made a positive contribution to the conversations in the auto industry, conversations about new technologies, new materials, new vehicles, new strategies and tactics, new legislation, new companies, new equipment, new processes. 

That won’t change.