Media News

Chappell, longtime auto reporter, dies at 67

July 16, 2025

Posted by Chris Roush

Lindsay Chappell

Lindsay Chappell, a longtime reporter for Automotive News, has died at 67 from cancer.

Richard Truett of Automotive News reports, “His nearly 36 years at Automotive News included some of the most tumultuous events in the history of the industry, not just the arrival of foreign automakers and their plants in the American South, but the tremendous changes to suppliers, labor, technology and government policies.

“Chappell’s position in Nashville took on even greater importance in 2006 when Nissan moved its corporate headquarters to the city from Gardena, Calif. Chappell covered it all with unwavering steadiness, fairness and professionalism that garnered him considerable respect from industry leaders. But Chappell also had a droll, deadpan sense of humor that endeared him to colleagues and executives.

“He sent me a note right after I got sick,’ said Johnson, the former North American head of communications for German supplier ZF. ‘He was also so inspirational about everything. He was such a curmudgeon about some things, but his heart was always in the right spot.’

“Despite his own illness, Chappell never lost his sense of humor. Trying to prepare Johnson for the injections, pills and IV drips he had faced, Chappell said: ‘Chicks dig that.'”

Read more here.

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