Media Movers: Cox Automotive’s Sean Tucker

Sean Tucker is a beat journalist with a cool job perk: test driving new cars.

As a senior news editor at Cox Automotive, owner of Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader, Tucker gets under the hood: that is, he accesses troves of Cox data, which he translates into digestible nuggets. And for consumers in a digital-first world, his work couldn’t be more important.

Working through a consumer advocate lens, Tucker belongs to a team with an important mission: provide expertise to millions of people researching new or used cars — whether they hope to sell, buy, finance or simply maintain. (I recently used the site to appraise my Chevrolet SUV, which gave me leverage on a trade-in for a newer minivan.)

Tucker’s work has also appeared in U.S. News, Yahoo Autos and MSN. I talked to him about how he wound up in such a specialized role, what he thought about a 44-page press release and his idea of fun outside the world of wheels.

Dawn Wotapka: You’ve carved out a niche in automotive journalism. How did that come about?

Sean Tucker: I’ve had two tours through the industry. The first was an accident. [Editor’s note: not a literal car accident] I was on a side-project of U.S. News and World Report that involved working nights (sending out emailed summaries of tomorrow’s news for particular industries – a bit like a precursor to SmartBrief). I told them I couldn’t handle nights anymore. I thought I was quitting, but they asked me to help launch a car website instead.

I later left the automotive press to get some management experience and wound up running a trade magazine about the electric power industry. I left early in the pandemic and Kelley Blue Book approached me not long after. By then, I knew I’d much rather be back to this. But I’m glad I had that detour [Editor’s note: not a literal highway detour] because the automotive industry and the electric power industry are going to be interconnected for decades. So having some background in both is helpful.

Dawn: Does your job differ much from, say, a daily journalism post?

Sean: It’s strange how much it isn’t. About 70% of what I do is write daily news stories relevant to car shoppers. So, I’m working a beat with daily deadlines. Most days I’m in front of a computer getting 2,000 words down in quick stories on 4-5 topics a day. I’m picking through studies and press releases and calling automakers with questions, trying to get a lot written in a short time.

The other 30% is longer-term: test driving cars, visiting automakers and writing longer-form opinion pieces. Once in a while, I’ll travel to an automaker to interview the folks who design cars. It’s important to know what they’re thinking. But the glamorous parts of the job – junkets to Seoul to talk to designers in studios or test drives of trucks on sand dunes – that’s a tiny percentage of my time.

Dawn: Your publication is digital. How do you get your stories to readers?

Sean: Readers come to us looking for car prices and reviews. That’s the easy part. Our daily news stories are like fishing nets, going out to try to gather readers in. They get some search traffic and pull in readers from Google Discover and Apple News. The tricky part is knowing that not every reader is the right reader. We’re aiming to give in-market car shoppers the best information they need to make a smart purchase decision.

Dawn: Data plays a big role in your daily life. How do you use it?

Sean: Data is the best part of working for Kelley Blue Book. They have teams dedicated to it. I’ve never worked somewhere where I had access to a Chief Economist before. Here, I can call him. At heart, I’m a nerd and love a good discussion of how the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate move will affect used pickup truck sales.

We have stories that repeat regularly – price trends, how hard it is to get a car loan this month,and so on. For those, the data team sends me routine updates and I try to turn them into something useful for a car shopper.

But I can also ask the data team questions if a trend seems to be emerging. Not long ago, for instance, they did an analysis for me on how cars priced under $25,000 were vanishing from the market and manufacturers were building more varieties over $60,000. For that sort of thing, I explained a hunch and they researched for me.

Dawn: Part of your job includes test driving vehicles, which seems like a lot of fun. What do you look for when you’re inside and driving?

Sean: I try to put myself in the mindset of someone who’d shop for a car like that and consider what they’d need to know. There are car enthusiast publications that can give you spicy opinions, and that’s fun, but someone coming to Kelley Blue Book probably has three to four cars in mind and wants to know which one will serve them better over time. So, I try to look at it through those eyes.

I might never again be in the market for a minivan, but I can help someone understand what makes one a better investment when you have two school-aged kids, a dog, and two road trips a year to see family. It’s important for us not to get distracted by what is impressive and focus instead on what information is useful.

Dawn: What is the best car you’ve ever test driven?

Sean: When you see a lot of cars, you get a little cynical. I love going to industry events with many different cars because we can get into a $40,000 car and an $80,000 car and a $120,000 car, all within a few minutes. I personally always walk away a little underwhelmed: Why is the difference between one and another worth a year’s tuition at a good college? What impresses me are well-thought-out cars at reasonable prices. Last year, I loved the Ford Maverick specifically because it cost under $20,000 (at the time), could carry a lot of topsoil and still maneuver easily in a suburban parking lot. It solved a lot of practical problems for a lot of people.

Dawn: But really, the best car?

Sean: I hate this answer. I hate it. But I once drove a tiny BMW 1-Series M Coupe that felt like it melded to me. No car has ever felt so thoroughly like it knew exactly what I wanted and it wanted the same thing. I wish I were saying that about a much cheaper, more practical car. But years later, I still miss how that thing felt. I resent how great it was. On a purely emotional level, it canceled out my practiced opinions about practical cars.

Dawn: I recently shopped for a new car and was shocked by the prices. Why are they so high?

Sean: A complex interplay of things. Part of it is supply and demand. The pandemic triggered a microchip shortage, which limited the number of cars automakers could build. Scarcity drives up prices. That part of the problem is starting to resolve itself as the supply of new cars for sale grows. Last month, the average new car sold for less than sticker price for the first time in 20 months.

But part of it is corporate strategy. Particularly with interest rates rising, the automakers have concluded that only wealthier, strong-credit buyers can afford new cars. So, they’re designing and building with that in mind. The number of cars under $25,000 is shrinking and the number over $60,000 is growing. In the long run, that leaves a hole in the market. Some companies will realize that and fill it. But, for now, everyone is chasing the same buyers and they’re people with relatively high incomes.

Dawn: You’re part of the Cox family, one of journalism’s most revered brands. (They also own the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Axios.) How does that impact your work?

Sean: It’s about resources. I know a lot of good writers at smaller publications who don’t have access to the kind of information we do here.

Dawn: Your resume also includes several “consulting editor” roles. How did they come about and what did you learn from them?

Sean: I’ve been contacted to be a freelance contributor several times and had that role evolve through conversations along the way. When I freelanced, I never liked to just write a piece and take payment. I always wanted to talk to editors about what they were doing and why. I would start those conversations out of curiosity, but it often led to a more complicated relationship involving strategy discussions.

Dawn: Who mentored you along the way?

Sean: Probably the biggest regret of my career (so far) is that I don’t think I had a true mentor. It never occurred to me to just directly ask for that.

I think it’s a concern for our industry, particularly now that so many of us work from home. If young people are coming into journalism through distributed, work-from-home organizations, they won’t get guidance and mentoring unless we’re very intentional about it. I wasn’t intentional about it as a younger journalist and I wish I had been.

Dawn: What advice would you give to younger journalists?

Sean: Two things — Ask directly for the things you need, like a mentor, and stay flexible about what journalism is. It’s changing rapidly. The fundamentals of bringing the relevant news and perspective on the news need to stay intact. But we have to be flexible about how we do that. If you see yourself as a builder of horse-drawn coaches, the internal combustion engine is the end. If you see yourself as a builder of transportation, it isn’t. I have no idea what my job will look like ten years into the AI era, but I hope it’s still about curating information to bring relevance and perspective. It (gulp) might not be just writing.

Dawn: How can PR people best work with you?

Sean: Introduce yourself and establish a relationship with a phone call or at an industry event. From there on out, I respect their need to be a marketer for their clients but I ask that they respect journalists’ time.

I got a 44-page press release about a car the other day. I’m sure someone put a lot of effort into that. But I would have found two pages of bullet points more useful.

Dawn: There’s been a lot of talk about vehicles going all electric. Will this happen?

Sean: It’s inevitable, but it’s also going to be slower than the headlines might make you think.

The industry has committed to it. Many automakers have set a public date they plan to build their last gas-powered car. Six states, as of this writing, have mandated it after 2035. New federal fuel economy rules will all but require it.  If you’re shopping for a new car in 2040, you’ll be looking at almost exclusively electric cars.

But it’s also worth noting that most car sales are used car sales. America has 278 million registered cars, and last year, we bought 13.2 million new ones. The turnover is slow. The average car on American roads is now more than 12 years old. Electric cars are getting all the attention. But even when they’re most of new car sales, they won’t be most cars. Gas stations will be with us for decades.

Dawn: What type of car do you drive?

Sean: My driving needs are simple. I work from home, don’t commute, and mostly need it to run errands. … So, I went weird. I drive a bright orange Kia Soul with a thick black stripe. My two biggest requests were a stick and a good stereo, and I found one with both. I didn’t know this when I bought it, but I quickly learned that a bright orange car is fun. Other people in bright orange cars honk and wave. Kids point and smile.

I tell friends now to consider the weirdest color on the lot. 81% of new cars last year were some greyscale color. Buy a yellow one. Buy a purple one. Your silver midsize SUV will never get you a wave in traffic. Your cheerful weird color will make you smile regularly.

Dawn: What do you do for fun?

Sean: I get outdoors. My kids are mostly grown, and I’m lucky enough to have a partner who loves a hike or a kayaking trip as much as I do. Most weekends, you’ll find one or both of us in the woods.

Dawn Wotapka is a former Wall Street Journal reporter who found a new home in communications. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and two children. She is a slow runner and an avid Peloton user. To submit tips for her Media Movers column, you can contact her at dwotapka@gmail.com.