[wheelguy]

In a landmark initiative to organize the online auto media space, seven of the most influential, independent auto media entities in India have come together, and officially announced the formation of The Federation of Auto Scribes of the Electronic Realm or FASTER today. The definitive body representing the most credible and influential names in the online auto media space comprises publications namely CarBlogIndia, Gaadify, Gaadiwaadi, GearFliQ, ICN (India Car News), MotorBeam and Motoroids.

FASTER has been constituted to bring together the most credible online auto content outlets together, and leverage the synergies to ensure that their collective audience benefits with the most accurate, fact-checked content. FASTER will ensure that the content published on its constituent platforms is monitored rigorously for quality, dependability and best editorial practices.

In addition to providing an organized representation to quality online auto media, FASTER will also recognize the standout products and personalities in the auto domain. Towards this end, FASTER Auto Awards have been constituted to felicitate the best products, services, individuals and initiatives relating to the auto industry. The first iteration of FASTER Awards will be held in the month of March 2021.

“Online auto media has been instrumental in informing and influencing the educated, savvy auto enthusiast and buyer for nearly two decades now. An overwhelming majority of auto-related media is consumed online. It’s unfortunate then, that despite its industriousness and wide influence, the online auto media community hasn’t represented itself in a formal, organized manner, commensurate with its contribution to the industry. FASTER has been constituted to provide them the right representation, and to differentiate the high-quality, credible auto media outlets from the opportunistic misinformation mongers. Going forward, we envision FASTER reaching out to, and including many more quality auto media outlets under its aegis”,, said Amit Chhangani, founding member and Chairman at FASTER.

More at link

[Jeroen]

I read through this, clicked the link, read it all, but I still don’t get it.

What is the problem that needs solving? What is this organisation going to improve for us the consumer?

I have seen these sort of organisations popping up from time to time in different parts of the world, in different industries. I am not overly impressed as to what they actually accomplish for the consumer.

I think they are targeting a way to broad range of topics.

Having multiple individual sources is not necessarily a bad thing at all. I like diversity in opinion, approach etc. Personally, but I could be way of the mark, I see these sort of organisations popping up due to self preservation. Which means they group together to generate more advertisement revenues, potentially cost their internal cost. Everything else is just an optical illusion.

Maybe I am to sceptical? I trust TeamBHP is not joining the band wagon!

Jeroen

[roamer012]

It’s unfortunate then, that despite its industriousness and wide influence, the online auto media community hasn’t represented itself in a formal, organized manner, commensurate with its contribution to the industry. FASTER has been constituted to provide them the right representation

Originally Posted by Jeroen

What is the problem that needs solving? What is this organisation going to improve for us the consumer?

I see these sort of organisations popping up due to self preservation.

Precisely, this will be used to simply arm twist the OEMs or negotiate better terms of test drive as opposed to playing second fiddle in front of the well established and funded print media.

I am sure, soon enough news snippets like "FASTER Boycotts so and so for this reason..." will be popping up all over the internet.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Maybe I am to sceptical? I trust TeamBHP is not joining the band wagon

I doubt Team-BHP will be joining this as this forum already does not gives two hoots to any OEM. OEMs / their channel partners are named and shamed for their anti-consumer stance and that is what makes this forum stand out from other reporting agencies in automotive world.

[gasinveins]

Pretty sure Skoda is not going to send/invite them for reviews.

And Faster sounds like child of Fasbeam which Faisal uploads his vlogs where he revs and shouts needlessly all the time.

Originally Posted by roamer012

I am sure, soon enough news snippets like "FASTER Boycotts so and so for this reason..." will be popping up all over the internet.

Yes, I think that's the core motive as Motorbeam/Faisal Khan was ignored by Skoda for the recent Kushaq test drive.

[NPV]

India's leading auto media outlets ? I hadn't heard of even one of them in that list - guess I'm so totally disconnected from the Indian automotive (news) scene and I'm still not missing anything!

To each, his own

[headbanger]

I don't see any issues with this collaboration effort, at least in theory. If this gives these individual folks a better chance to do their job, it's ok. They probably see it as getting a shot alongside bigger established names.

I can see Gagan Choudhary in the opening pic. The guy has a decent following and his reviews are balanced as well.

All said and done, the gold standard still remains TBHP. For all the years since I got hooked onto this forum, I am yet to find a worthy competitor to TBHP. My only grudge is the time it takes the review to come out. In my view, TBHP should also consider online reviews as a serious option. Something like a 10 minute review online with the gigantic review on blog later.

[EightSix]

Originally Posted by gasinveins

Pretty sure Skoda is not going to send/invite them for reviews.

And Faster sounds like child of Fasbeam which Faisal uploads his vlogs where he revs and shouts needlessly all the time.

Yes, I think that's the core motive as Motorbeam/Faisal Khan was ignored by Skoda for the recent Kushaq test drive.

Since you write about Faisal Khan:

• All journalists in this association are far from ‘leading’ except Faisal Khan who has created a name for himself.
  
• Faisal Khan did this thing with Kia two years ago, when he first travelled to Hyderabad and Delhi to get exclusive test drives of Kia cars, that included Carnival, Rio, Optima, Stinger even before the brand launched!
  
• Then he boycotts Kia when they launched the Seltos for no reason, and months later, gets the Seltos and comes up with a 45 minute long review of that car.
  
• Moral of the Story — These boycotts don’t really work, in fact, this association might lead to more biased journalism & more interference from auto brands in what they publish, leading to lesser diverse opinions.
  

Now, why this association:

• Motorbeam, (Faisal’s other venture) is practically dying. They don’t have any USP or any growth when at one time they were head to head with Autocar.
  
• This Faisal dude launched his own Fasbeam channel and all the high performance/luxury cars he gets these days, he puts their reviews up on his own channel, and uses them for his own purposes. (wink wink - if you watch his vlogs, you know what I mean). Most of these cars don’t even make it to Motorbeam!
  
• He also has his own line of riding gear. He uses the start of Motorbeam reviews to advertise it for free. Due to all of this guy’s deeds, he grew his own channel and Motorbeam is struggling, much like all other organisations in this association.
  
• This collaboration is indeed one way to get a shot alongside bigger, more established names as headbanger said.
  

On a side note, next month, when they come up with their ‘awards’ is when we will really see their true colors, whether they are an association to be trusted or a biased group of auto-brand sycophants.


P.S. that name is really cheesy IMO.

[aargee]

For some reason I'm reminded of this scene. Anyone watched this movie...able to relate?



PS - Any resemblance to actual persons/websites, living, dead or actual events is purely coincidental

[am1m]

To my (quite possibly dated) eyes, this is like a bunch of Instagram 'influencers' banding together to create a brand! When I clicked on this thread, I expected to see autocar, auto India, etc. type brands (though even the credibility of those auto journo brands is suspect with all the paid reviews!) banding together to survive. At least that would make some sense, this seems pretty underwhelming!

But the online world changes fast. When it comes to online content, what one generation dismisses, another demographic/socioeconomic bracket (like say tier-2 cities) may consume religiously. How much 'muscle' do these sort of content creators really have these days? Do car/bike brands take them seriously?

Without looking at some stats for these sites, such as unique page views, search index, referrals, time spent on each page, etc. (and not just followers/subscribers or likes, both of which can be gamed way too easily) an opinion either way is difficult.

[CarManMotorcycl]

Calling them 'leading auto media outlets' is a bit too far fetched, I have only heard of Motoroids and Motorbeam(Due to his driving antics on his personal Youtube channel). They are just like any other auto content creator in India who dish out mediocre content, I for one will never rely on these content creators to help me make a decision on buying a Car or a Motorcycle.

On a side note, this venture of their's is a bit confusing to understand and I don't think it will survive.

[Dry Ice]

Are they serious?

I thought they were just having fun, along the lines of Piloting Extremely Nicely in Scotland 287.

Surprised to see it's a real thing!

None of the names ring any bell, wonder what is the yardstick for using "leading" in their names? Viewership, subscribers, engagement?

[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

None of the names ring any bell, wonder what is the yardstick for using "leading" in their names? Viewership, subscribers, engagement?

Lol. Everyone loves to call themselves ‘leading’ and thanks to Mota bhai’s almost free internet we have channels cropping up on YouTube like mushrooms. Each have their own fanbase. The guy Faisal khan is extremely loud. Both his voice and the way he revvs the nuts out of cars. But then that’s how a lot of people drive/ride in india if you notice day to day traffic, so he too has his own fanbase.

This move looks more like an effort to push OEMs to provide exclusive rights for reviews ahead of others. Being the first to publish is a race on YouTube and everyone wants to win it.

What I fear this will do is we would get more biased reviews in favour of manufacturers who support their cause as compared to those who don’t.

Good that we have our old-school team-bhp reviews and ownership threads which we can turn to for unbiased reviews

[GTO]

I hope it works out for them, but it isn't for us.

I think this is basically to put a united front to the car manufacturers - strength by numbers, like a "union" - and get priority access to cars (or equal access as the traditional favourites). But the auto industry is a big "you scratch my back and I scratch yours" kind of place. If you want special treatment from the OEMs, they expect special reports. That's why you will see that 100% of "exclusive" test drives are overwhelmingly positive. Sweet to the point of making you diabetic. Basically, you trade credibility for access before any other media.

Team-BHP couldn't care less. If the OEMs give us cars for our reviews, good. If not, we will request BHPians as we have often done before. Last option = we'll buy a car for reviewing & once done, sell it off in a week.

[amitayu]

For me, this just takes away whatever credibility they had.

This union is a commercial exercise; they feel they have build their 'brands' and are now looking to collectively bargain for commercial gains. This goes completely against the 'independent review' concept that they cashed on.

[jkrishnakj]

A ‘union’ coming together to figure out what they really want. I really didn’t even know that such car review forums existed.

Not to be cynical, but if the primary objective of ‘Faster’ is to get fast access with benefits to cars and therefore not lending itself a credible report, this one may not sustain. And it won’t take time for the aam Junta to see through this.

I like Aargee’s picture of Rajnikant and very well remember that dialogue in that scene.