http://www.dragsport.com/issue/2010/0410_pub_note.shtml
I personally do not care either way, but apparently the individuals at other mags say this is ill founded and that in fact Dsports numbers are lesser than those cited in this moderately written (and therefore above average for the sport compact tuning scene) editorial.
[quote=“some douchebag at Dsport”"]
Publisher’s Note
Import Tuner or MODIFIED?
Things are looking pretty grim for the competition. If you haven’t noticed, both Import Tuner and MODIFIED have advertising page counts dropping to the level that resulted in Sport Compact Car and Turbo Magazine being canceled. As a result, it’s very likely that one or both of the titles will call it quits during the next six months. If they close one of these titles, the hope would be to book the canceled title’s advertisers into the surviving title. If both titles are canned, the plan would be to book the advertisers into Super Street.
Having been part of the team that created Import Tuner, it will be sad to see it go (if it’s the title that gets chopped). Import Tuner created the “import model” and it introduced the market to “power pages” where product evaluations told the story about a product’s effectiveness and the merits of tuning a particular platform. My mission with Import Tuner was to build a magazine for the entry-level enthusiasts that would include a model and an appeal toward the Asian tuning culture. It had a cultural affinity to the Asian scene, similar to how Lowrider attracted the Latino community.
If it’s MODIFIED that gets the axe, it will also be a bit disappointing. When owned by Rob Laidlaw and VerticalScope, MODIFIED made a strong run at dethroning Super Street. Only the purchase of MODIFIED (by the owners of Super Street) kept MODIFIED from going to number one. Today, the investment put into both Import Tuner and MODIFIED is just a fraction of what it used to be. There’s still some editorial talent at both titles, but when your high-quality images are printed on low-quality, thin paper, it’s hard for even great work to go noticed. While the staffs of these titles may get the blame, it’s ultimately the higher-ups that make shortsighted decisions to save a dollar today only to lose twenty dollars in the future.
My guess? I think that Import Tuner is more likely to get the axe. There are fewer dollars coming from the “show car” type advertisers that used to be prevalent in Import Tuner. Also, Source purchased MODIFIED not too long ago while Import Tuner was purchased in 1999.
It Could Have Been Us…
With the inevitable end of one or two competitive titles, we are reminded that it could have been us. When you make the same mistakes that cause others to fail, you’ll likely fail. If we fail to deliver a product that’s valuable to the readership or we fail to have a readership large enough to support the advertisers, we’ll also fail. When the economy challenged us, we stepped up to work harder than ever before and we invested the money necessary to keep our family of DSPORT readers growing. We’ve grown considerably during an economy that’s been tough on business. We’re committed to continue working hard to deliver the best DSPORT products possible.
GREEN SUCKS… Are you listening car manufacturers?
Last month’s “GREEN SUCKS” edition is tracking on preliminary reports to be our best-selling issue ever. Apparently, there are more than a few people out there questioning the motives of the Green Party and its propaganda machine. Hopefully some car manufacturers will take note and get back to building cars, instead of golf carts (EVs). What the Green Party doesn’t want the public to know is that there are a number of technologies that can be employed that lessen the impact on the environment without taking the soul (internal-combustion engine) out of the car. So-called “evil” corporations like Exxon have promising bio-fuel technologies that produce gas, diesel or jet fuels from algae. The yields are projected to be eight-times the yield compared to corn grown for fuel. The algae takes energy from the sun and actually feeds off the carbon dioxide in the air (a “bad” gas according to the Green Party). In the process, the algae produces oxygen. That’s the kind of evil, I can support.
[/quote]
