Henry Payne
Henry Payne approaches the auto beat as an enthusiast and analyst, combining long, hands-on drives with clear explanations of how new vehicles fit into a changing industry. He focuses on how design, performance, technology and market forces come together, rather than treating a car review as a standalone consumer product write-up.
Road tests from SUVs to supercars
Payne serves as the auto critic and columnist for The Detroit News, concentrating on vehicle reviews, product trends and breaking auto news. His regular work ranges from mainstream SUVs to high-performance sports cars, giving readers a broad view of the market in one voice.
Recent coverage includes detailed drives of vehicles like the Aston Martin Vantage Roadster, where he stresses horsepower figures, chassis development links to racing programs and real-world agility for a heavy grand tourer.
He reviews compact and midsize utility vehicles such as the Kia K4 hatchback and the Kia Seltos, paying close attention to cabin layout, screen real estate, comfort over long trips and the value proposition versus more expensive luxury brands. In the Seltos, for example, he records a 400‑mile journey and reports on gas range, quietness and ergonomics, using the trip to test how a small SUV works as an everyday long-distance tool.
His style carries over to larger SUVs like the Kia Telluride, where he writes with an emphasis on street presence and usability rather than abstract specifications. Truck coverage is equally detailed, as seen in his piece on GM’s heavy-duty pickups, which focuses on segment-first features and the practical changes that matter to buyers.
Across segments, he writes in direct, descriptive prose that foregrounds driving impressions, packaging and use-case over marketing claims.
EVs, hybrids and the multi-energy future
A defining thread in Payne’s recent work is the transition from an EV-only narrative to a multi-energy, mixed-fleet reality.
He has covered stories such as “As EV rush fades, automakers pivot to multi-energy platforms,” explaining how models like the Lexus ES are reconfigured from primarily electric to predominantly hybrid as regulations and customer demand evolve. In his Chevy Bolt 2.0 coverage, he examines how a legacy EV is redesigned with new battery technology, improved range and updated infotainment, using the car to illustrate broader shifts in electric architecture and user expectations.
He puts Chinese-made Polestar vehicles wheel-to-wheel with U.S.-built Tesla models, framing road tests as comparative studies in performance, design language and manufacturing origin. In longer pieces on Chinese-owned, Volvo-inspired EV startups, he connects tariffs, supply chains and corporate strategy to the cars themselves, showing how trade policy and foreign investment shape what ends up in American showrooms.
His work on Q3 hybrid sales, where he details how Ford, GM and Stellantis trail foreign rivals as hybrids gain share, demonstrates a comfort with sales data and market structure and ties those numbers directly to the product mix available to consumers. Across these stories, Payne treats EVs and hybrids less as novelty technology and more as products situated in economics, regulation and competition, while still grounding each piece in the experience behind the wheel.
Pricing, value and the shrinking affordable segment
Payne devotes significant attention to affordability, particularly the erosion of sub‑$30,000 offerings.
In his reporting on entry-level vehicles, he notes that average new-car prices have climbed past $50,000 and links this to factors such as consumer preference for larger SUVs and trucks, regulatory pressures and the rising share of electrified models. His SUV reviews often use detailed feature lists - screen size, driver aids, cabin materials, charging options - to weigh whether mainstream brands deliver “luxury” experiences at lower prices, as seen in his comparisons of Kia’s interior graphics and tech to premium competitors.
He writes about North American Car, Truck and Utility of the Year winners with an eye to how juries reward certain mixes of performance, practicality and innovation, and uses those honors to frame discussions of which vehicles represent good value in an increasingly expensive market. In essays on new “muscle” metal, he balances enthusiasm for power and design with acknowledgment that the segment sits at the high end of the pricing spectrum, reinforcing a consistent concern with what buyers get for their money.
Taken together, his work on pricing and features positions him as a critic who tracks cost, equipment and segment movement rather than treating performance or technology in isolation.
Industry context, global players and enthusiast culture
Beyond individual models, Payne often situates his stories in a wider industrial and global context.
He has covered the sighting of a China-sourced Waymo Ojai autonomous minivan ahead of the brand’s expansion, using the vehicle to discuss platform sharing with Geely’s SEA‑M architecture and the implications of importing such hardware into U.S. fleets. When writing on quarterly sales and hybrid adoption, he positions Detroit automakers against foreign competitors and connects product pipeline decisions to lagging performance in key segments. His coverage of auto shows and annual award cycles treats those events as milestones in the industry calendar, capturing how new “auto metal” and muscle cars reflect broader design and engineering trends.
Enthusiast culture appears frequently: he writes as an active race driver, mentioning seat time in a vintage Lola and hot laps in cars like the Corvette Z06, and those experiences inform his attention to handling, track behavior and performance heritage in road tests. Payne extends this enthusiast lens through his Car Radio program, where he hosts interviews with engineers, executives, tuners and racers about new products and racing seasons.
Episodes covering topics such as Ford’s Mustang and Bronco RTRs, Subaru’s trio of SUV EVs and high-performance Corvette modifications show him using conversation to dig into technical detail and brand strategy in ways that complement his written reviews. His background as a longtime columnist and cartoonist shapes a distinctive voice that mixes straightforward reporting with informed perspective, making his auto coverage more analytical and personality-driven than a generic beat reporter’s work.
4 more automobile journalists.
Aarian Marshall
Aarian Marshall is a staff writer at WIRED who stands out for covering how cars, software, and policy collide. She writes on transportation systems and cities, from the auto industry to broader mobility systems. Before WIRED, she reported on cities and urban policy for The Atlantic’s CityLab. Her beat runs from electric vehicles, fuel prices, tariffs, and car-buying decisions to autonomous vehicles, robotaxis, and software-defined cars. She reports with a systems view, linking policy shifts, technical failures, and urban life to what happens on streets, in repair shops, and at the pump.
Abby Smith
Abby Smith’s most distinctive work combines motorsports coverage with live digital and radio reporting. She is Digital Director at KRDO13 and covers the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, including race updates, weather shifts, breaking developments and ways to follow the action. Her beat also includes automotive news, crime, public safety, politics, city government and community life. Notable work includes coverage of homicide arrests, a major drug bust, a presidential address about the war with Iran, a family’s effort to bring Stephen Hubbard home, a state governor candidate and a city security ordinance. She also reports on fitness, school spirit and station staff. Smith writes in a concise, factual style shaped by investigative documentary experience. She turns live events, official announcements and daily developments into clear coverage across digital and radio platforms.
Adele Peters
Adele Peters covers climate solutions and other structural problems as design and policy questions, focusing on what can work in practice. She is a senior writer at Fast Company, where she reports on energy, transportation, housing, materials, agriculture, corporate sustainability, and social impact. Her stories examine climate technologies, grid resilience, electric vehicles, renewable energy, modular construction, homelessness, affordable housing, compostable materials, regenerative agriculture, and ecosystem restoration. She looks at whether projects can scale, their real-world constraints, and their measurable effects. She interviews political and philanthropic leaders, startup founders, and climate tech entrepreneurs, anchoring stories in what is being built and tested. She has written more than 3,000 stories and contributed to Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century and State of Housing Design 2023.
Adrian Leung
Adrian Leung writes engineering-led coverage of Chinese electric vehicles and performance cars for CarNewsChina. He focuses on new energy vehicles, battery systems, powertrains, electric platforms, high-end domestic brands, and track-ready models, and he explains technical details in plain language for non-specialist readers. His reporting treats new models as hardware and systems stories, with precise figures on range, battery capacity, chassis layout, motor outputs, weight, and acceleration. He also covers the Chinese auto industry’s finances and technology roadmap, including sector profits, vehicle volumes, and solid-state battery timelines. His background in Electrical and Computer Engineering shows in the way he writes about vehicle electronics and battery management.