Martin Padgett, Editorial Director

Martin Padgett avatar
Martin Padgett is Internet Brands Automotive Group’s Editorial Director. He ensures the quality of content across the Group’s portfolio of automotive destinations, which include The Car Connection, Motor Authority, and Green Car Reports. Padgett oversees the editorial development of each site, as well as vehicle reviews and evaluations that are unique to The Car Connection, including its numeric TCC Rating scoring system. He also guides deeply sourced industry reporting at each site, from first drive reviews of the latest supercars and electric vehicles, to in-depth analysis of topics that range from EV charging to the future of gas-powered trucks and SUVs. With a career that spans more than 30 years, Padgett has reported on the automotive industry since he joined Car and Driver magazine in 1991. Prior to joining the startup site that would become The Car Connection, he wrote for other prominent automotive outlets including AutoTrader, Edmunds, Automobile Magazine, Stuff, Outside, and BusinessWeek. As a juror for the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year awards, his insights and evaluations play a vital role in recognizing excellence within the automotive industry. Padgett is a native of Washington, D.C. He graduated with a BA in history with honors from Duke University. He earned an MFA in narrative nonfiction writing from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications in 2018. In 2023, he completed his PhD in U.S. Constitutional history at Georgia State University.

Articles

  • 2011 BMW 5-Series Touring: Still Not Coming to America

    Last year, we brought you our first drive of the 2010 BMW 5-Series Gran Turismo. The hatchback aimed directly at those BMW buyers who didn't want anything to do with an SUV or a crossover, but...

  • 2011 BMW X3: First Look, U.S. Version

    Earlier this summer, BMW gave us a first look at the 2011 X3 luxury crossover vehicle. Now that our first drive in the newest German ute is coming in a few weeks, BMW's released the U.S. specifications for the vehicle, in advance of its world premiere at the 2010 Paris Auto Show. The American...

  • Update: Apple's iPad Does Fit in the 2011 Hyundai Equus

    We've driven the 2011 Hyundai Equus a few times, and have come away impressed with the Korean automaker's first take on traditional, full-size luxury. Since we're poverty-stricken Apple fanboys, too--only $100 more for a phone that's locked to AT&T?--we geeked out over the announcement earlier...

  • 2011 Hyundai Equus: Third Drive

    As you've seen across the High Gear Media empire of automotive Web sites, we've spent some quality time with the 2011 Hyundai Equus. In fact, we've driven it once in what was clearly "not a first drive" and then a few months ago in South Korea. Now, we've had a shot at the final production Equus...

  • What's Your Favorite Empty-Garage Dream Car?

    Few rites of passage get landmark status in a car fan's life. There's nothing in a car life like the birth of a first kid or the signing of a first mortgage--unless you have to do both just to get that "classic" Zimmer QuickSilver back on the road after Granddad left it to rot in a barn in New York...

  • 2011 Lincoln MKX: First Drive

    Stretch your memories to go all the way back to the end of August, when Labor Day actually held the ironic promise of a few days off. Faked you out, didn't it? Us too. Still, we fondly recall those days of just three weeks ago with a touch of nostalgia. After all, it was the first time the wraps...

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    2012 Lamborghini Jota Teased Prior to Paris Show

    The 2010 Paris auto show is nearly here, and the wind-up from automakers is in full effect today with the first of six teasers from Lamborghini as it implores us all to "discover the way to the...

  • After 960 Tries, South Korean Lady Driver Gets License (Eek!)

    Down in the southern part of South Korea--a country known for rugged persistence in the face of grave danger--there's a Guinness Record holder at work, one who just wants to drive. This past May, Cha-Sa-soon of Wanju, South Korea, got her wish, and got her driver's license. After 960 tries. The New...

  • Lincoln Promises 7 New Vehicles by 2014

    Now that Ford's shorn of Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin and Volvo--and now that it's closing Mercury--Lincoln will get seven new vehicles in the next four years in a major new investment in product and in a more distinct identity for the Ford luxury brand. At the press launch for the 2011 MKZ...

  • CamaroBlog: A Changing of the Guard

    For those of you who have been following this blog since its inception, you may have noticed I am no longer posting news updates. The truth of the matter is I am handing off my writing duties to another writer so I can spend more time with my family and work on other website projects. As of today...

  • ChallengerBlog: A Changing of the Guard

    For those of you who have been following this blog since its inception back in 2005, you may have noticed I am no longer posting news updates. The truth of the matter is I am handing off my writing duties to another writer so I can spend more time with my family and work on other website projects...

  • MustangBlog: Changing of the Guard

      For those of you who have been following this blog since its inception back in 2005, you may have noticed I am no longer posting news updates. The truth of the matter is I am handing off my writing duties to another writer so I can spend more time with my family and work on other website...

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    Pebble 2010: A Miller for the Ages

    In a past life, I wrote about the Miller 91 that Car and Driver editor Karl Ludvigsen found in a dank barn in France, and brought to the U.S.--and later saw installed in the National History Museum....

  • Pebble 2010: Morgan Eva GT Live Photos

    Along with the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, we've brought you all the details of the new Morgan EvaGT as they've trickled out over the Internet in the past few weeks. Today, at the 2010 Pebble Beach Concours' concept-car lawn, we were able to lens the tradition-breaking EvaGT for the first time...

  • Pebble 2010: Mercedes-Benz 500K

    While Mercedes-Benz made a show of its own with a massive gathering of its 2010 SLS AMG sportscar, it also found a place of honor on the lawn at the 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance with this near-perfect 1930s roadster. Shown for the first time at the 1934 Berlin Motor Show, this...

  • Pebble 2010: Ghia, In All Its Glory

      Design studios rarely receive the kind of comprehensive museum treatment of established car brands. It's no easy thing to assemble a cohesive group of cars that eventually were sold by different car companies, each with a different purpose in mind. As one of the honored marques at this year's...

  • Pebble 2010: Jaguar XKSS by the dozen

    It's been a special year for Jaguar, which introduced a new 2011 XJ sedan earlier this year to widespread acclaim. A highlight of its corporate summer must have been today's showing of a dozen XKSS sports cars at the 2010 Pebble Beach Concours. The XKSS has a compelling history. Sixteen cars in all...

  • Pebble 2010: Bugatti Veyron Super Sport

      We've told you all about the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport in previews earlier this month, but at today's 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, we grabbed our first live photos of the world's new record holder for production-car top speed. Bugatti introduced the car on Saturday at The Quail 2010...

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    Quail 2010: One For The History Books

    Call it a wrap - yesterday's motorsports gathering, The Quail 2010, is over, and with this post, MotorAuthority is switching gears to tomorrow's Pebble Beach Concours.

    Our first outing to the Quail...

  • Quail 2010: Shelby Mustang Mania

      With a frail Carroll Shelby at the helm, The Quail 2010 paid homage to some of the greatest Mustangs in history on Friday. And if you've never seen a 'Stang older than the 2011 BOSS 302 we brought you yesterday, the Quail's collection of pony cars provided an instant history lesson. Paired with...

  • Quail 2010: Shelby Cobra Corral

      While The Quail 2010 celebrated 45 years of Carroll Shelby's Mustangs in a prime collection of GT500s, GT350s, KR convertibles and one bare-metal shell of an ur-Shelby Mustang, a smaller circle of roadsters connected the dots between the 'Stangs to Shelby himself. A curated quartet of Shelby...

  • Quail 2010: Ferrari Limo Is 'What Not To Roll'

    After you drown in high-cholesterol classics from Bugatti, Packard, Allard and Shelby all day at The Quail 2010, it's easy to overlook some of the simply amazing cars in the parking lot of the Quail Lodge. The cars left idle on the Quail greens alone would put whole concours events in less moneyed...

  • Quail 2010: 1950s Racing Stunners

      This year's Quail motorsports gathering underscored the "motorsports" half of the equation, with a display of rare race cars that avoided the destruction you might expect to happen to lightweight, fragile classics like these two exceptional cars. The 1955 Kurtis 500SX above has a unique...

  • Quail 2010: A Pair of Packards

    Before World War II, Packard was synonymous with Cadillac or Rolls-Royce, a standard bearer for luxury vehicles from any continent. This year at The Quail, a pair of Packards flaunted the elegant, opulent details that gave the brand its stellar reputation--fleeting though it was. We've captured two...

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