Motor Trend is one of the oldest automobile magazines still publishing Fact: date=September 2008. It first appeared in September 1949, issued by Petersen Publishing Company in Los Angeles, and bearing the tag line The Magazine for a Motoring World. Today it is published by Source Interlink and boasts a paid monthly circulation of over one million readers.

One of the earliest and most enduring of the magazine's creations was its Car of the Year award, given almost continuously since its inception, although the phrase itself would not become entrenched until well into the 50s. (The first winner was the 1949 Cadillac.) The award has gone through several splits and permutations over the years, being called the Golden Wheels Award for a while in the 70s and having given rise to Truck of the Year and Import Car of the Year as well as SUV of the Year. Nevertheless, it is still coveted by manufacturers and is usually covered by the mainstream press as the most important distinction awarded in the American auto industry.

The Motor Trend brand has expanded considerably over the years, and today includes radio programs, 17 auto shows, Truck Trend magazine, Motor Trend en Español magazine, Motor Trend Korea, Motor Trend China, Motor Trend Indonesia, the 2006 Folio Award winning Motor Trend Classic, and Web sites to complement each print title. The magazine also issues accolades for car care products, and licenses its name out to car-related goods ranging from oil filters, ipod and cellular accessories to sunglasses. In 1999, it produced a coffee table book to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Motor Trend and Hot Rod founder Robert E. Petersen (Petersen died March 23, 2007) was instrumental in establishing the Petersen Automotive Museum, now considered one of Los Angeles' major tourist attractions.

Editorial direction

The current editor-in-chief is Angus MacKenzie who was born/raised in Australia (previously editor of UK dealer magazine AM. Members of the Los Angeles editorial staff include executive editor Matt Stone, Arthur St. Antoine (formerly of Car and Driver), Kim Reynolds (formerly of Road and Track), Allyson Harwood, Ron Kiino (formerly of Car and Driver), and Ed Loh (formerly of Sport Compact Car). The Detroit editorial staff comprises Frank Markus (formerly of Car and Driver) and Todd Lassa (formerly of Auto Week). The magazine's new look is credited to Creative Director Andy Foster (a native of England and resident of Australia) and Assistant Art Director Mike Royer, along with staff photographers, Brian Vance, and Julia LaPalme (graduate of Brooks Institute of Photography).

Motor Trend has recently made a push to expand its website to compete with other automotive websites. Led by online editor Michael Floyd, the website is strongly promoting "being there" in-car videos along with many editor-written daily blogs, and techie Kirril Ougarov, who notably interacts with forum users, as does Melissa Spiering. The forum is one of the most popular of car websites, with opinion varying between users. Award winning broadcaster/auto journalist Bob Long is the host of Motor Trend Radio and Jeff Bressler the News Director and Anchor. The show airs on Saturday and Sunday and is syndicated in more than 110 US markets, broadcast on Sirius (channel 122) and XM (channel 166) satellite radio, and podcast from iTunes. Motor Trend had different iterations of a television show that aired on TNN, Spike TV, and SPEED, but currently the TV show is not produced.