Motor press association ejects writer after he slams free cars, meals, trips as 'bribes'

Members of the International Motor Press Association on the buffet line last November, when Subaru sponsored a free, multi-course lunch at the 3 West Club to mark the subsidiary's 50th anniversary in America. This afternoon, BMW paid for the free lunch to celebrate Mini entering its 60th year in 2019.

After cocktails, multi-course lunches usually include chicken, fish, pasta, steamed vegetables, salads and dessert. Oysters on the half shell also have been served occasionally. Lincoln will sponsor the annual holiday meeting in December.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Word that I am no longer a member of the International Motor Press Association came in a telephone call from Bill Howard, an auto editor and president of the group.

My use of the word "bribe" in a headline over a recent post prompted the board of the country's oldest organization of automotive journalists and public relations professionals to vote to terminate my membership, Howard said on Monday.

READ: Automakers bribe writers with yet another

 play date at a private race track in the Catskills

I told Howard I felt the word was justified in view of all of the free stuff, travel and dining automakers shower on writers in the expectation they will praise the vehicle they are evaluating.

Only Consumer Reports actually buys all of the cars they test for the magazine, which doesn't accept advertising from manufacturers or anyone else.

'Bribe' is justified

What I didn't tell Howard is that the word "bribe" was suggested by another member who objected to no longer getting the royal treatment from auto companies, and hoped for a return to "equal opportunity bribery."

Here is an excerpt from my post on the October event at Monticello Motor Club, a private racetrack for the wealthy:

"In an email, IMPA President Bill Howard reminded members:

"'Sponsors make the event affordable: $100 for the ticket, not $400. Say thank you as you relieve them of their coffee, bottled water, doughnuts and candy in the paddock.'

 "Tesla doesn't advertise or provide cars for IMPA events [or reviews], and that may be one factor behind all of the negative stories about the premier maker of all-electric cars.

"And in recent years, traditional automakers like the ones that sponsor IMPA events have restricted loans of new vehicles to writers whose reports have such a large exposure that there is a good likelihood they will translate into sales.

"That prompted one long-time IMPA member to say he'd like to see a return to 'equal opportunity bribery.'" 

The definition of bribe fits: "Persuade (someone) to act in one's favor, typically illegally or dishonestly, by a gift of money or other inducement."


I can attend lunches

After our phone conversation, Howard said that although I am no longer a member, I can still attend automaker-sponsored lunches at the 3 West Club in Manhattan as a guest.

I first joined IMPA in the late 1980s, when I covered Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Jaguar, Volvo and other importers based in Bergen County, N.J., as a business reporter for The Record of Hackensack.

I also wrote monthly reviews of new car models. I retired from daily journalism in 2008.

I rejoined the group about three years ago after I purchased a Tesla Model S, and started a blog on EVs and hybrids called Shocking Car News. 

More than 550 journalists, writers, bloggers, photographers, videographers and public relations professionals belong to IMPA, according to a member database I was sent three years ago. 

In July, Scotty Reiss, president emeritus of IMPA and founder of A Girls Guide To Cars, asked members to submit ideas for an ethics policy, but no such policy has been proposed or implemented.

READ: Auto press group solicits ideas
 for an ethics policy

 READ: At spring fling for auto writers, 

you could hear the death rattle of the big gas engine

Auto press group solicits ideas for ethics policy, but at least one member is skeptical

This week, President Emeritus Scotty Reiss asked members of the International Motor Press Association to submit ideas for the group's first ethics policy.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Members of the International Motor Press Association and Washington Automotive Press Association met this week for a free technical conference to improve their content and hone their social-media skills.

Five automakers sponsored the event, held at Volvo Cars Manhattan, including a light breakfast and lunch, and an evening cocktail party on the roof of a hotel called Ink 48.

The party, featuring $29 glasses of French champagne and light snacks, was paid for by Drive Shop, which manages new press and marketing vehicles many members can borrow free for "test drives."

In fact, many IMPA members have such a cozy relationship with auto companies and dealers I was surprised to hear President Emeritus Scotty Reiss solicit ideas for the press group's first ethics policy. 

I didn't get a chance to ask her at the conference on Tuesday why she thought the group needed an ethics policy, and she hasn't responded to my emails.

Freebies galore

I'm not sure IMPA is ready for an ethics policy.

"Free" is the operative word at IMPA, which calls itself the country's "oldest organization of automotive journalists and public relations professionals."

Members come from all media -- print, broadcast and Internet -- and include public relations representatives of all the world's automotive manufacturers and suppliers.

In addition to free cars and SUVs to borrow for a weekend or a week, some members have all their expenses paid when they travel to auto shows to report on new models or attend a "reveal" of a new car or SUV.

Few IMPA members disclose these freebies -- including airfare, hotel rooms and fine dining -- and many of their reports are indistinguishable from the advertising and promotion paid for by the automakers and dealers themselves.

Convivial lunches

I joined IMPA in the 1980s, when I wrote a monthly road-test column on new cars for The Record, then in Hackensack, N.J.

After I left the paper in 2008, I let my membership lapse, but rejoined when I began writing a blog, Shocking Car News, which focused on all-electric and hybrid cars, including my 2015 Tesla Model S.

Later, I folded that blog into The Sasson Report, which covers EVs, food, politics, news of Hackensack, where I live, and other topics.

I enjoy the free monthly IMPA lunches in Manhattan, convivial gatherings of writers, public relations people and auto company executives.

But given IMPA's emphasis on members monetizing their content, and the group's distaste for criticizing the industry and dealers, I can't imagine an ethics policy with any teeth.

Climate change 

For example, I don't see IMPA acknowledging how the auto industry damaged the environment in the past century or how auto emissions cause tens of thousands of premature deaths every year.

Few auto writers in the group focus exclusively on all-electric cars and gas-electric hybrids or ever discuss the environmental advantages of owning such a vehicle.

Good luck, Scotty. I sent you my ideas for an ethics policy. But I'm not holding my breath.

See: World automakers try to improve

 mileage of deadly gas engines

See: Writers just want to have fun

 at annual track event

See: Years late, Consumer Reports

 puts EV on Top 10 list

See: Maserati says 'vaffanculo'

 to climate regulators 

At Tuesday's tech conference, IMPA members heard from representatives of Facebook, Volvo and Drive Shop on how they can increase their presence on social media.

Katz's Deli delivered a light lunch, but servers didn't know what was in some of the sandwiches, which is how I ended up eating a chicken-salad sandwich, below, when I thought I was getting tuna fish. (I don't eat poultry or meat).

During the cocktail party atop Ink 48, I asked for a glass of French champagne, which was listed on the bar menu for $29. Delicious.

Feds may question coziness of automobile writers, manufacturers and car dealers

YouTube celeb Daym Drops was a panelist at a conference sponsored by the International Motor Press Association, the nation's oldest group of automotive journalists and public relations professionals; five auto manufacturers; and DriveShop, a nationwide marketing agency that provides free vehicles for evaluation by members of the automotive media.

The setting for #IMPACon17 was the Automotive Education Center in the Whitestone section of Queens, N.Y., where conference participants could try out the 2018 Honda Odyssey, Mazda Miata and other vehicles during lunch.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

QUEENS, N.Y. -- A conference designed to raise the social-media skills of automobile writers started off on an ominous note.

It seems the Federal Trade Commission, the nation's consumer-protection agency, is reminding so-called influencers to disclose "any material connection" between them and the marketer of a product.

"Boots are shaking at [Vogue publisher] Conde Nast" and at other fashion magazines, said Scotty Reiss, president emeritus of the International Press Association and co-founder of She Buys Cars.

In her opening comments, Reiss said she feared the FTC will go after auto writers next, requiring them to disclose flights, rooms and meals paid for by automakers or dealers who invite the media to auto shows or the unveiling of new models.

The FTC says in a sample letter sent to influencers that a material connection "could consist of a business or family relationship, monetary payment or the provision of free products to the endorser." 

Turning over a new Leaf

Nissan, for example, is planning to stage the worldwide "reveal" of the redesigned all-electric Leaf in Japan.

Fewer than a half-dozen elite auto writers will be invited on an all-expenses-paid trip to Tokyo to see and write about the second-generation 2018 Leaf, the first mass-market electric car, which debuted in 2011.

Beyond those writers disclosing the flight, room and meals in their articles, another issue is whether the federal government will move to tax them.

Free cars, free delivery

Across the United States, DriveShop, Event Solutions International and other managers of large "press" and "marketing" fleets provide free loans of new cars, trucks and SUVs to auto writers and VIPs for up to a week.

Those vehicles are delivered with full tanks of gas to homes or offices, and picked up at no cost to the writer, blogger or video producer.

What industry wants

At Tuesday's conference, DriveShop CEO Derek Drake spoke to about 50 IMPA members and other participants.

The title of his talk was "The View from the C-Suite: What the Auto Industry Wants and How You Fit in the Picture."

Basically, Drake said what the industry and marketers like DriveShop want is for the media to help them "win the hearts and minds of consumers" and a "share of their wallets" through favorable reviews.

A Subaru spokesman said the Japanese automaker would be glad to post on its Facebook page any auto writer's "nice" article about one of its cars.

Presumably, it wouldn't be "nice" to point out that Subaru is the only major manufacturer that doesn't market a gas-electric hybrid in the United States.

Nor was there any discussion at the conference of how the world's biggest automakers are dragging their feet on introducing all-electric cars, aggravating climate change and causing millions of premature deaths from auto emissions every year.

The title of the conference was "The Digital Newsstand: Building Content, Audiences and Opportunities."

Can writers on a free ride be objective?

An electric road trip to Montreal

Why I skipped the N.Y. auto show

Conference participants were welcomed to the decade-old Automotive Education Center by Mark Schienberg, president of the Greater New York Auto Dealers Association, which built the center and sponsors the New York International Auto Show, said to be the largest and oldest in North America.

Honda brought its battery powered Uni-Cub, which is intended for people who can walk, but not walk far. They are now available for rent in Japan. The rider can nod his head forward to get the Uni-Cub going, and look left or right to get the modern-day unicycle to turn.

After a spin in the Mazda MX-5 Miata with a 6-speed manual transmission, below, this Tesla owner can only hope the roadster is the last gasoline-powered car left after the transition to all-electric vehicles.

The conference and test drives took place in the picturesque Whitestone section of Queens, N.Y.

Honda also showed the 2018 Honda Odyssey, but the new minivan loses points by not offering a gas-electric hybrid version or one with all-wheel drive.

The Odyssey and Honda Clarity reintroduce the push-button automatic transmission once found in the Plymouth Valiant (my first car) and other Chrysler Corp. cars of the 1960s.

IMPA members paid $79 to attend the conference, which included breakfast, lunch and a reception with wine and beer, the last sponsored by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

No amount of drinking could prepare me for the return trip to New Jersey on the infamous Cross Bronx Expressway, which was down to one lane when a tractor-trailer in the middle lane hit a car in the inside lane, and both vehicles stopped so the drivers could exchange information.