Launched in September 1988, its 1,000th issue was published on 20 February 2008. Its only weekly competitor in Britain is Autocar. Auto Express is the biggest selling motoring magazine in Britain, with a circulation of 31,166. The Auto Express website receives between 4 and 5 million visits per month.[4][5][6]
Auto Express is known for its in-depth reviews, road tests and group tests[7] of the latest new cars, as well as for its news coverage[8] on the cars and consumer motoring issues. There is also a wide variety of other content in the print magazine and on the website from long term tests and product tests to used car buying guides, opinion columns and features. Auto Express is also known for its spy shots and speculative illustrations of forthcoming cars.
It has sister magazines in France: Auto Plus, and Germany: Auto Bild, as well as in other countries around Europe, which follow the same format. In the UK Auto Express is part of the Autovia group of automotive media brands that includes Carbuyer, Driving Electric, evo and Octane, as well as the Driver Power survey.
Since April 2001, Auto Express has published the J.D. Power rivalling "Driver Power" car customer satisfaction survey, which shows the best and worst cars to own that year according to motorists who own them.[9] In 2022, the Kia XCeed[10] was the top rated car in Driver Power and Porsche[11] was the top manufacturer.[12][13][14]
In February 2023 Auto Express launched the Real-World Road Test; a test that sees groups of two or three new cars subjected to a rigorous assessment processes focused on car buyers' needs. The test considers the merits of each car, not only the way that it drives, but also every aspect important to owners, from the space inside to the usability of infotainment systems. Equally importantly, it gives a clear indication of how much car buyers can expect to pay to buy and run the car.[15]
