Jeff Perez
Jeff Perez is Editor-in-Chief at Motor1, overseeing coverage that ranges from enthusiast sports cars to mainstream SUVs and crossovers. His work stands out for tying together market trends, detailed driving impressions, and clear buyer guidance in a single, consistent voice. He moves between data-led features on shifting segments, first-drive reports of high-performance models, and reviews of family vehicles with the same straightforward tone. Alongside written stories, he represents Motor1 in on-air formats, hosting test-car shows and appearing on the brand’s podcast to discuss new models and long-awaited performance launches. He sits at the center of the outlet’s automotive coverage, shaping how enthusiast narratives, industry developments, and everyday ownership questions are presented.
Sports Cars And Performance Coverage
Sports and performance cars are a core thread in Perez’s work, and he treats them as both emotional objects and products with a market story.
In a feature on Europe’s shrinking sports car segment, he shows how the Porsche 911 dominates sales, framing the car as a commercial outlier rather than just a halo model. Coverage of BMW M’s future includes pieces on an electric M3 with synthesized V10 sounds and interviews with the division’s boss about the fading role of manual gearboxes and potential high-performance off-roaders. He reports on high-powered flagships like the Mercedes-AMG S63 E Performance, balancing praise for straight-line speed with criticism of flaws that limit its appeal.
Track-focused stories, such as driving a McLaren on Miami’s Formula 1 circuit, lean on his own seat time to explain how a car behaves in an environment most readers only see on television.
His interest in design heritage comes through in concept coverage, including a story on the Jaguar XJ220 reimagined by Ian Callum, where he treats the car’s revival as part of a broader pattern of modern reinterpretations of 1990s icons. Earlier audio work around the reborn Toyota Supra carries the same approach: detailed impressions on both street and track, framed around whether the car meets the expectations built over years of anticipation.
EVs, Hybrids, And The Future Of Powertrains
Perez covers electrification as an engineering and consumer story rather than just a technology headline. He writes about Volvo’s push to make its plug-in hybrids drive more like pure EVs, focusing on range figures and the practical experience of using electric-only modes day to day.
Pieces on BMW’s electric M3 and other performance EVs address sound design, driving feel, and how brands translate their combustion identity into battery-powered cars. When BYD debuts a new boxer engine as a range extender for future EVs, he highlights the unusual layout and explains why a combustion unit still matters in an ostensibly electric product.
Coverage of Toyota’s RAV4 plug-in hybrid includes details on its ability to power a home for multiple days, framing the car as both transport and backup energy source in specific markets. In Test Car Happy Hour episodes and related features, he discusses vehicles like the Mercedes-AMG EQE SUV and Rolls-Royce Spectre, comparing their execution as luxury EVs with expectations set by their combustion predecessors. Concept stories such as Hyundai’s rugged Crater off-roader and other future-facing models show him treating electrification and new platforms as part of a wider shift in how brands think about capability and design.
SUVs, Crossovers, And Everyday Buyers
A large portion of Perez’s output focuses on SUVs and crossovers, where he writes for readers balancing space, price, and drivability. In a feature rounding up the best SUVs driven in 2025, he uses firsthand experience to separate standout models from the crowded field, attaching clear reasons to each recommendation. His guide to compact crossovers worth buying in 2026, which includes staples like the Toyota RAV4, breaks down pros and cons in plain language and reflects how these vehicles are actually used. Reviews of specific models, such as the 2026 Honda Pilot, weigh incremental updates against segment benchmarks and conclude whether conservative changes still make the vehicle worth considering.
A review of the Nissan Armada Nismo shows him taking a large, modified SUV seriously as a performance product while acknowledging its excess and explaining why it remains appealing. Launch coverage of the Genesis GV90 and other new flagships combines specs - power, battery capacity, seating configuration - with a straightforward assessment of whether they deliver on their premium positioning.
Through staff garage pieces, where he discusses his own BMW 230i and previous cars, he adds context about how he thinks about daily drivability and long-term ownership, which informs his perspective on family-focused vehicles.
Car Care, Ownership, And Explainers
Beyond news and reviews, Perez writes explainer features that demystify car ownership and maintenance. Motor101 stories cover topics like calculating how much car a buyer can realistically afford, laying out simple steps to avoid stretching finances.
A feature on Take 5’s stay-in-your-car oil changes examines whether the brand’s speed claims hold up, breaking down the process in clear stages. He writes about the origin of the Turtle Wax name, using a straightforward anecdote to connect brand identity with product history.
Regulatory and infrastructure pieces, including coverage of states raising highway speed limits to 75 miles per hour, show him tracking how policy changes affect real-world driving. In project features such as the WRX-swapped Crosstrek build, he interviews the owner to walk readers through the decisions and steps behind a complex modification.
Interviews with industry figures, like Bugatti’s designer on the Bolide and Brabus’s CEO discussing expansion beyond Mercedes, round out his portfolio with insider viewpoints that still stay anchored to product details and future plans.
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.