By Haymarket
Report updated May 17, 2026
Autocar
For car enthusiasts and automotive industry professionals seeking news, reviews, and tax advice.
Autocar is a struggling sports app that is available. With a 4.6/5 rating from 44 reviews, it struggles with user retention. Users particularly appreciate high quality editorial content keeps long-term readers engaged with the publication despite technical friction, though persistent content delivery failures prevent subscribers from accessing paid weekly magazine issues on time remains a common concern.
What is Autocar?
Autocar is a weekly automotive magazine app providing industry news, expert reviews, and comparison tests on iOS and Android.
Readers hire Autocar for definitive automotive journalism and professional tax tools, but the current technical delivery fails to meet the basic expectation of reliable content access.
Current Momentum
v7.4 · 3mo ago
Maintenance- Improved reader stability in latest release.
- Maintains weekly editorial content cadence.
Active Nemesis
Car and Driver Magazine US
By Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
SportsNo ranking data
Rating Pulse 🇺🇸
Recent User MoodAI-powered deep analysis surfacing high-signal insights. Still in beta, accuracy improves daily. For informational purposes only.
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
How Is The App's Momentum Right Now?
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What Are The Key Features?
Mobile-optimized edition of the weekly car magazine for tablet and phone reading
Cross-platform account login to retrieve purchases and protect issue data on new devices
Web-based tool to calculate tax liabilities for specific vehicle models and tax years
How much does it cost?
- Free app download
- In-app purchases for current and back issues
- Auto-renewing subscriptions
Monetization relies on recurring subscription revenue for digital magazine access, supplemented by affiliate links and ad-supported web content.
Who Built It?
Enrichment in progress
Publisher profile available very soon
What other apps does Haymarket make?
What do users think recently?
Low confidence · Latest 60 of 64 total reviews analyzed · Based on 64 reviews. Signal may be noisy.
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a upset sentiment. Users appreciate high quality editorial content keeps long-term readers engaged with the publication despite technical friction, but report persistent content delivery failures prevent subscribers from accessing paid weekly magazine issues on time and unresponsive customer support channels leave paying subscribers without resolution for account and access issues.
What Users Love
What Frustrates Users
What Users Want
What is the competitive landscape for Autocar?
How's The Sports Market?
How does it evolve in the Sports market?
Autocar holds a niche position in the Sports category, but its grossing rank lagging behind free chart performance signals monetization friction. The reliance on legacy subscribers is threatened by technical instability that prevents consistent content delivery.
| Country | Category | Chart | Rank | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | Sports | iOSGrossing | #36 | |
| 🇸🇬 Singapore | Sports | iOSGrossing | #81 | NEW |
The rivals identified
The Nemesis
Head to Head
Autocar must prioritize mobile-specific engagement features and social sharing capabilities to close the gap in user retention and brand visibility.
What sets Autocar apart
Autocar offers a more focused mobile-first reading experience designed specifically for smaller device screens
Superior editorial depth in comparison tests provides a more definitive resource for serious car buyers
What's Car and Driver Magazine US's Edge
Significantly larger user base and review count create a stronger network effect and brand trust
Advanced feature set including social clipping and timed previews drives higher user engagement metrics
Contenders
Seamless cross-platform account synchronization ensures a consistent reading experience across mobile and desktop devices
High-frequency news and analysis updates keep users returning for the latest industry developments
Integrated marketplace features allow users to transition directly from reading reviews to vehicle shopping
Exclusive digital renders provide unique visual content that differentiates their editorial from standard photography
Peers
Multi-language content curation expands the potential audience reach beyond a single geographic market
Print-ready PDF downloads offer a tangible utility for users who prefer offline or physical reading
Expert-led how-to guides provide actionable value beyond traditional news and editorial content
High-quality nature photography galleries offer a visually immersive experience that enhances digital magazine value
Proprietary BuzzScore rating system provides a quick, standardized way for users to evaluate vehicle quality
Comprehensive automotive database allows users to perform detailed technical comparisons between different car models
Autojunk spot upload feature enables community-driven content generation rather than relying solely on editorial staff
Frequent release cadence indicates a more active development cycle compared to the target app
The outtake for Autocar
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Definitive comparison tests anchor brand authority
- B2B-focused tax calculator drives professional lead-gen
- Pocketmags integration enables cross-platform purchase recovery
Critical Frictions
- 0.7★ rating gap between iOS and Android
- Persistent content delivery failures in latest release
- Unresponsive customer support channels
Growth Levers
- Wearable integration for industry news alerts
- Offline-first reading mode to resolve content-disappearance
Market Threats
- CarBuzz’s proprietary BuzzScore database
- Auto Express’s integrated marketplace shopping
- EU data-minimization tightening on digital subscriptions
What are the next best moves?
Rebuild content delivery logic because delivery failures are the #1 complaint → increase retention
Top complaint theme in sentiment analysis identifies delivery failures as the primary churn driver.
Trade-off: Pause the used-car marketplace affiliate integration — delivery stability has 3× the impact on subscriber churn.
Audit support response times because unresponsive support is the #2 complaint → restore subscriber trust
Sentiment data shows paying subscribers feel ignored during authentication errors.
Trade-off: Same-quarter capacity available — no major lever displaced.
A counter-intuitive read
The brand's editorial authority is a liability if the technical delivery remains broken, as it creates a higher contrast between the high-value content and the failing app experience.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Social clipping tools (available in Car and Driver but missing here)
- Integrated marketplace shopping (available in Auto Express but missing here)
- Timed content previews (available in Car and Driver but missing here)
Key Takeaways
- Prioritize technical stability over new features to halt subscriber churn.
- Leverage the existing editorial authority to expand B2B lead-gen tools.
- Address the support-channel vacuum to restore trust with paying subscribers.
Autocar retains a loyal enthusiast base through editorial depth, but technical delivery failures are actively destroying subscriber value, so the PM must prioritize offline-first stability to prevent total churn of the legacy audience.
Where Is It Heading?
Declining
The automotive journalism market is consolidating around apps that offer integrated shopping and social features, leaving Autocar exposed. Maintenance-mode technical performance will continue to erode the subscriber base until the content delivery pipeline is stabilized.
Persistent content delivery failures in the latest release erode the daily active habit, which compounds the rating drag already visible on Android.
Unresponsive support channels during authentication errors accelerate churn pressure on the legacy subscriber base into the next quarter.