2018 Azbee Awards of Excellence

Category

Print > Company Profile > More Than $3 Million Revenue > Heartland

Awarded to

Jamie LaReau, Staff Reporter

Entry details

Terry Taylor's empire

Issue date (if applicable): 12/18/2017
Publication name: Automotive News
Publishing company: Crain Communications Inc.
Website home page: autonews.com

Please describe the publication's mission and readership:

Automotive News serves automakers, suppliers and dealers. Our 57,000 paid subscribers are split roughly into thirds: dealers; automakers and suppliers; and others. Our mission is to be the primary source of industry news, data and insight for the industry’s decision makers. We provide our audience the information they need, in a timely manner and in the format that they desire. Automotive News (in weekly tabloid print, digital and e-newsletter formats), autonews.com, related magazines, our daily webcasts -- First Shift in the a.m. and AutoNews Now in the p.m. -- and our specialized e-newsletters are part of Crain Communications. Our paywalled website has 340,000 registered users and averages 2.2 million visits a month, with 1.3 million unique visitors. Our 56 full-time editorial staffers produce almost all of our online and print content. Our coverage includes regular monthly pages/departments: Production Line, Connected Car, Marketing, Finance & Insurance, Fixed Operations, and Remarketing. The first is devoted to supplier/technology news; the last three to key dealership profit centers. Industry executives pay up to $1,500 to attend our annual events, proof that they see value in those events. These include (with 2017 attendance): Automotive News World Congress (1,000+), L.A. and N.Y. marketing seminars (700; 400); Best Dealerships To Work For seminars and dinner (400+), and PACE awards for supplier innovation (400).

Please describe the enterprising work that went into this entry and its significance or impact on readers:

The challenge: Find out all we can about Terry Taylor, the largest individual car dealer in the world, and the most elusive. Taylor refuses media interviews and he is notoriously secretive even with his own employees. Many of his partners were discontent; one was suing. Automotive News set out to learn how Taylor operates, what makes him successful and what was behind this mutiny.
The origin: A disgruntled partner sent AN a copy of a recently filed lawsuit against Taylor. Staff Reporter Jamie LaReau reached out to the tipster and built a relationship that resulted in the tipster providing contact info for other Taylor partners and business associates. LaReau cold-called these other contacts and persuaded several to talk to her, promising to protect their identities. Many feared Taylor.
The reporting: LaReau has pursued Taylor doggedly for years. When Automotive News first sought to profile Taylor two years ago, she worked various sources to get his private number. But when she called him, he hung up. This time, she engaged him in a brief dialogue. For the first time, he provided his attorney for comment. Taylor also emailed LaReau his own statement.
The significance: Taylor owns 130 to 150 stores, the most for any single person. He has built an empire worth billions, yet his operations remain well cloaked. This de facto profile of Taylor’s operations resonated soundly with our readers. It was the most-read story that week, garnering 14,782 clicks, vs 6,599 for the prior week’s top-clicked story.

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