With long-standing Editor John Oxley standing down after the February issue, it’s bye-bye from him and hello from me.
Not exactly a case of in with the new, as I have been the proud owner of Company Vehicle for almost 25 years, buying it when it was just over a year old as one of the two magazines that originally formed Adrenalin Publishing, which now has eight titles. I wrote extensively for the magazine for much of its early life and somewhat less frequently as the business expanded. It is nice to get back in the driver’s seat as I have a mix of petrol and ink in my blood and a lot of experience around the fleet market.
I can recall as a teenager, and at risk of showing my age, avidly reading articles in Wheels magazine with testers thrashing HQ Holdens, XA Falcons and VH Valiants around race tracks and thinking – wow, what an amazing job that would be. It wasn’t even a dream in New Zealand with its paucity of car magazines. Yet here we are and my first launch event back in the seat was driving the new Lexus IS models around Taupo racetrack at speed – living the teenage dream!
With motoring writing seemingly out of the question I proceeded to get a mechanical engineering degree whilst keeping up petrolhead dreams alive through car clubs and rallying (MkI Escort 1600). Then unintentionally my career evolved mainly around the automotive sector, starting in alternative fuels (CNG and LPG refueling) and then, after a period of OE, in the car leasing industry including five years as Operations Manager of a fleet that reached 10,000 vehicles, and then into publishing with three automotive titles (Company Vehicle, NZ4WD and Motor Equipment News). I am looking forward to taking Company Vehicle onwards and keeping it true to the original vision of being a business magazine about cars as opposed to just a car magazine.
So buckle up your seat belts and come along for the ride!
