WSJ adds auto reporter in Detroit

Wall Street Journal auto editor John Stoll sent out the following announcement on Friday:

All,

Just when you thought we had enough University of Michigan grads with WSJ bylines, another Wolverine has joined us in the Motor City.

We are pleased to announce the addition of Adrienne Roberts to the Detroit bureau and the global autos team. She will cover automotive retail, including dealers, and a group of well-known companies that have become known as the transplant auto makers (car companies selling in the US but based abroad).

In her new role with the Journal, Adrienne will cover how cars are bought and sold around the world in an era when more and more of us avoid dealerships. Tesla threatens to upend traditional franchise laws that have insulated tens of thousands of dealers from competition. An increasing amount of used cars are sold and financed entirely online.

She will also write about Toyota, Subaru, VW and other foreign auto makers/non-conventional car companies adding production capacity in the US or looking to gain market share in the world’s most profitable automobile market. Adrienne has already ensured she will make immediate waves on her new beat: she just traded in her Ford Escape for a car built by a foreign auto maker that will go unnamed.

Adrienne joins WSJ from Crain’s Detroit Business where she delivered scoops and features on several subjects, including Detroit’s growing retail scene, the downtown’s resurgence and the emergence of a pretty interesting foodie scene. She also worked at DBusiness Magazine and Hour Magazine. She launched her journalism career overseeing and writing for the editorial page at The Michigan Daily, U of M’s award-winning newspaper. She earned degrees in communications and Spanish while in Ann Arbor.

Please join me in welcoming Adrienne to our team and wishing her success on the car beat.