- published: 19 Apr 2016
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Autocar is a weekly British automobile magazine published by Haymarket Motoring Publications Ltd. It refers to itself as "The World's oldest car magazine".
The publication was launched as The Autocar "in the interests of the mechanically propelled road carriage" on 2 November 1895 when, it is believed, there were only six or seven cars in the United Kingdom. In his book Drive On!L. J. K. Setright suggests that the magazine was set up as an organ of propaganda for Harry J. Lawson, founder of the Daimler Motor Company and a journalist on the magazine in its early days. Autocar claims to have invented the road test in 1928 when it analysed the Austin 7 Gordon England Sunshine Saloon. Autocar has been published weekly throughout its life with only strikes in the 1970s interrupting its frequency. In 1988, it absorbed its long-time rival The Motor magazine, founded on 28 January 1903, briefly calling itself Autocar & Motor afterwards, before reverting to Autocar. The magazine has scored many firsts in its history including the first full road tests and independent performance tests of the Jaguar XJ220, McLaren F1, and the Porsche 911 GT1. It was also the first magazine to produce independently recorded performance figures for the Bugatti Veyron, which were published in the 31 May 2006 issue.