While technically, we editorials are rivals in the market, allow me to put aside my professional front for a while, and talk about my personal dismay at the demise of a title that was held in high regard in Singapore's automotive circle.
Motoring is (or was) Singapore's oldest automotive magazine, and its influence on the local automotive industry was clear during the heydays of Singapore's fledgling car industry in the 1980s and 1990s.
For car nuts who grew up during that period, Motoring was THE magazine to look out for at the bookshelves. I know myself, because I have a collection of Motoring magazines dating back to 1994.
Being the small industry that it is in Singapore, most established automotive journalists you see around nowadays, will have had some sort of connection to Motoring at one point or another during their career.
The magazine's peak was arguably during the mid-90s, when sky-high COE prices meant that car buyers were the most discerning. The power was with the readers and consumers, and the quality of writing reflected that sentiment.
As the market opened up around the millennium however, things started to go downhill. I'm not sure if there is any one single factor for this, whether it be the appearance of more automotive titles in Singapore, or the fact that cheaper cars meant that car buyers didn't give much credit to quality reviews, but it was a shame to see journalistic standards starting to pander to the masses.
As Motoring started to whittle down its operations throughout the past decade, I honestly feared the worst for Singapore's most established car magazine. Even still, the announcement of its closure came as a bit of a surprise.
I am sad to see it go, but I hope that one day, somehow, the title might be revived again, in some form or another, stronger and better than before.
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Cheers to that!