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  • 16 Oct 2024 7:09 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)


    The Midwest Automotive Media Association hosted its second annual MAMA’s Favorites Fall Fest on Wednesday, Oct. 2,  at the scenic Arrowhead Golf Club in Wheaton. Illinois. More than 50 journalists attended what turned out to be a beautifully warm fall day to get behind the wheel of nearly 40 new, refreshed or updated vehicles across all powertrains. 

    “MAMA’s Favorites Fall Fest brought late model-year cars to our members to test in everyday driving scenarios, as owners will experience them,” said MAMA President Robert Duffer. “Member attendance and automaker participation continues to grow for MAMA’s Favorites.”

    Participating manufacturers included Acura, Buick, Chevrolet, Dodge, Fiat, Ford, Genesis, GMC, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Lexus, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, and Toyota. Hyundai sponsored the welcome breakfast where Michele Tinson showed a sizzle reel highlighting their latest revamped lineup. Fall Fest participants were also treated to lunch sponsored by Genesis. The specifically chosen drive route for this Fall Fest allowed members to compare and contrast each vehicle with a mix of turns, curves, and stoplight acceleration and braking. Communications and product representatives were available on site to answer any questions MAMA members may have had leading up to category voting for the organization’s“MAMA’s Favorite Vehicle” awards. 

    The winners from each category, as well as those winners from the 2024 MAMA Spring Rally, will be voted on at the end of the year, and an overall MAMA’s Favorite Vehicle will be announced at the 2025 Chicago Auto Show breakfast on Feb. 6, 2025. The winners from the 2024 MAMA’s Favorites Fall Fest are:


    Favorite Plug-In Vehicle: 2024 Kia EV9 GT-Line AWD

    Favorite Affordable Vehicle: 2025 Honda Civic Si

    Favorite Performance Vehicle: 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 5 N

    Favorite Off-Roader: 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser

    Favorite Pick-Up Truck: 2024 Ford F-150 Hybrid 4x4 Supercrew

    Favorite Luxury Vehicle: 2025 Genesis GV80

    Favorite Family Vehicle: 2025 Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid


    Just like last year, the MAMA Fall Fest event took place the day before CATA’s Chicago Drives Electric media day in nearby Oakbrook Terrace featuring more EV and plug-in hybrid models to sample.

    MAMA would like to thank all the participating manufacturers for providing press vehicles and making the 2024 MAMA’s Favorite Fall Fest a great success.

      


  • 05 Jul 2024 1:23 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)


    On Wednesday, June 26th, about 40 MAMA members and affiliates joined Hemmings’ president, Jonathan Shaw, for a virtual roundtable discussion. Topics included an in-depth look at Hemmings’ history, the company’s evolution in the digital age, and the shifting demographics and behaviors of the collector car market. Also highlighted was the company’s focus on community engagement, innovative services, and the future of both internal combustion and electric vehicles in the world of car collecting.

    Key points of the discussion:

    • Ernest Hemmings founded Hemmings in 1954 in Quincy, Illinois.
    • Hemmings has transitioned from a print media company to a digital marketplace leader.
    • 25% of collector car owners are now millennials, and 22% are Gen Z.
    • Millennials spend about six months researching before purchasing a classic car, with an average price point of $30,000.
    • Despite the rise of e-commerce, 90% of collector car transactions still occur in the gray market.
    • Gen Z and Millennials prefer e-commerce and expect services that offer independent valuations and seamless transaction processes.
    • The Frictionless Marketplace was launched to cater to the needs of younger buyers.
    • Muscle cars continue to have cross-generational appeal, while interest in hot rods and cars from the 1930s to 1950s is waning. Restomodding is becoming more popular.
    • Even certain electric vehicles, like the Tesla Model 1 Roadster and Model S Plaid, are expected to become collectible.
    • Supporting institutions like America’s Automotive Trust and RPM Foundation is essential to ensure the availability of skilled craftsmen and women for car restoration.

    With 92.2 million Americans interested in collector and classic cars, and with 31 million collector vehicles in the US alone, the market isn’t going anywhere. Hemmings is committed to providing sales and marketing support, as well as supplying trustworthy digital platforms for buyers and sellers to connect and keep the nostalgia alive!

  • 19 Jun 2024 11:51 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)


    On Monday, June 17th, Jenni Newman and Patrick Masterson from Cars.com hosted a virtual meeting and Q&A session for about 80 MAMA members and presented their annual American-Made Index. The AMI compares how much of a vehicle sold in America is actually American. “The automotive industry’s economic impact is much broader than the general public realizes,” Jenni cited. From car factories and dealerships, to auto parts stores and gas stations, the industry creates over 5.4 million American jobs. Yet, unsurprisingly, the country an automotive brand calls home has little to do with where their vehicles are made or where their parts come from.

    To help sort through all the confusion, Cars.com looked at over 400 light-duty models on sale for the 2024 model year. Each vehicle was then weighted on five key factors on a 100-point scale: transmission country of origin, engine country of origin, US manufacturing workforce, final assembly location, and percentage of US and Canadian parts. (Note that Cars.com uses a minimum sales threshold, so some lower volume manufactures/models did not qualify to be ranked).

    The vehicles that topped this year’s American-Made Index are:

    #1 Tesla Model Y (3rd year in a row)

    #2 Honda Passport

    #3 Volkswagen ID.4

    #4 Tesla Model S

    #5 Honda Odyssey

    #6 Honda Ridgeline

    #7 Toyota Camry

    #8 Jeep Gladiator

    #9 Tesla Model X

    #10 Lexus TX

    With changes in the political landscape regarding gasoline and EV vehicles—and with many manufacturers soon to start building EV batteries and EV vehicles in the USA—the American-Made Index will continue to change. Cars.com is taking the lead to demystify the very complicated world of automotive manufacturing and to provide a comprehensive list for consumers who want to keep their purchase dollars in the community and better support the US economy.


  • 01 Jun 2024 6:59 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)



    ELKHART LAKE, Wis.--The Midwest Automotive Media Association (MAMA) hosted the 2024 Rally May 21-23 at Road America. 100 journalists put nearly 80 vehicles through their paces on track, autocross, street drives, and a technical off-road course sponsored by Jeep. MAMA welcomed new brands INEOS and Polaris to the event along with a new track day sponsor, Brembo.

    “Brembo’s presence at the 2024 Rally showcases not only our wide range of increasingly digital and connected brake offerings but underscores our commitment to partnership with nearly every automaker present,” said Stéphane Rolland, president and CEO of Brembo North America.

    This year’s rally marked the second year of MAMA’s Favorites awards. Members chose the following winners from seven categories.

    Family Vehicle: 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe

    Luxury Vehicle: 2025 Genesis GV80

    Off-Roader: 2024 Ford Ranger Raptor

    Pickup Truck:  2025 Ram 1500 Rebel

    Performance Vehicle: 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 5 N

    Plug-In Vehicle: 2024 Kia EV9

    Affordable Vehicle: 2024 Buick Envista

    MAMA’s 160 attending members started with breakfast, sponsored by Toyota highlighting the 2025 Camry and Crown Signia. After a morning of track laps, street drives, and off-roading, the group fueled up with lunch sponsored by a Hyundai briefing on the updated Sonata and Elantra. 

    Driving then continued and later a group of members participated in the 4th annual “4 Miles of Fitness,” sponsored by Kia, where they enjoyed walking, running, or biking the legendary track.

    Subaru kicked off Day 2 with a breakfast presentation on the Forester. Street drives and an autocross competition sponsored by Genesis followed. Lunch, sponsored by Cars.com, marked the conclusion of the event.

    Post-rally results indicate over 550 posts, articles, videos, broadcast coverage and more reaching a collective 682.2M and nearly 1M video views. Engagement with social content topped 35.7k. (Source: Meltwater & Content Tracking).

      


  • 09 May 2024 7:16 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)


    Kick-starting an exciting month for the organization, Head of Fiat North America, Aamir Ahmed, met virtually with 36 MAMA members to introduce the brand's hot new 500e.

    A nameplate that's been missing from Fiat's stateside lineup for a few short years, the all-new Fiat 500e arrives here for the 2024 MY as a key tool in Stellantis's push towards a future of electrification. Prior to its U.S. homecoming, the latest 500e has been a hit in the European market, with more than 1 billion miles of accumlated real-world testing from owners. Sitting atop what Ahmed referred to as "STLA City" underpinnings and built in Italy, with a range of 162 miles per charge the new 500e aims to be the perfect EV for urban and sububran dwellers. Combining personified and iconic design, the latest and greatest tech, and a price tag just north of $32,000, the 500e is the first of many approachable EVs that will play an important role in helping consumers shift away from ICE. Furthermore, in a bid to ease the transition towards electrificaiton, Fiat confirmed every new 500e would include an at-home Level 2 charger or credits for public charging sessions.

    After the presentation, Ahmed spent time answering several questions MAMA members asked about the vehicle. Buckle up, because MAMA members attending the 2024 Spring Rally at Road America later in May will have the chance to get behind the wheel of a new 500e, both for street drives and around the autocross course!

  • 13 Mar 2024 3:29 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    MAMA hosted another informative virtual meeting on Wednesday, March 6th featuring something a little different. Instead of the typical new vehicle roll-out with facts and figures and marketing plans, Chrysler Brand CEO, Chris Feuell  gave more than 40 MAMA members a glimpse into the future of the brand by showcasing the Halcyon Concept vehicle, lead the discussion with some background of what this concept represents: “The Halcyon is a concept car for the Chrysler brand that truly embodies every aspect of the Harmony in Motion ethos that we are moving towards with all of our future products.”

    The Halcyon Concept illustrates the contemporary and sleek aerodynamic design, as well as, the comfort and self-driving technology that customers will see in all Chrysler vehicles starting in 2025. In fact, despite it’s futuristic look, many elements of the Halcyon concept are intentionally designed in a way to be produced very near term. In other words, the Halcyon Concept is a “real” versus “abstract” concept vehicle and is even built atop one of Stellantis's upcoming shared platforms: STLA Large.

    Next up in the presentation was a video showing the Halcyon in action highlighting it’s style, comfort and autonomous driving capabilities followed by a lengthy but very informative Q&A session. Key takeaways include that despite the latest worldwide obsession with SUVs and crossovers, the Halcyon Concept proves that Chrysler is still dedicated to the car.And, Chrysler is aware that they not only have a (lack of) product problem, but they have a quality problem as well and, going forward, they are absolutely committed to changing that stigma with an emphasis on strong engineering and even stronger leadership.

  • 09 Feb 2024 9:00 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    The Midwest Automotive Media Association (MAMA) has awarded the Chevrolet Trax as MAMA’s Favorite Vehicle of 2024. The overall winner was voted on by the association’s 189 nationwide media members and announced at the Chicago Auto Show welcome breakfast on Feb. 8, 2024.

    “The new Chevrolet Trax packages style, features, and value unlike any new car,” said Robert Duffer, MAMA President. “Priced at less than $25,000, it costs nearly half of what new car shoppers are paying on average. It outshined more than 100 qualifying vehicles, and MAMA members responded by awarding it MAMA’s Favorite Vehicle of 2024.”

    Revamped for 2024, MAMA’s Favorite Vehicle awards build on the strength of the association’s prior Family Vehicle of the Year and Luxury Family Vehicle of the Year awards. It was expanded to highlight the eclectic number of vehicles available and of interest to the readers, viewers, and listeners of MAMA’s membership base. Before determining the overall winner, members voted for the seven category winners after each of the association’s three drive events in 2023: The MAMA Spring Rally held at Road America, MAMA’s Favorites Fall Fest, and Chicago Drives Electric.

    The category winners for 2024 are:

    • MAMA’s Favorite Family Vehicle: Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid MAX
    • MAMA’s Favorite Luxury Vehicle: Genesis G90 3.5T E-Supercharger AWD
    • MAMA’s Favorite Off-Roader: Jeep Wrangler Rubicon X 4xe
    • MAMA’s Favorite Pickup Truck: Ford Maverick Tremor
    • MAMA’s Favorite Performance Vehicle: Ford Mustang Dark Horse
    • MAMA’s Favorite Affordable Vehicle: Chevrolet Trax
    • MAMA’s Favorite Plug-In Vehicle: Hyundai IONIQ 6

    Two trophies were presented to representatives from GM at the 2024 Chicago Auto Show welcome breakfast, with the Chevrolet Trax being awarded to both MAMA’s Favorite Affordable Vehicle and MAMA’s Favorite Vehicle of 2024. Additionally, throughout the 2024 Chicago Auto Show, MAMA board members met with representatives in attendance from the category winners above to present trophies on the show floor.

    Congratulations to all!


  • 06 Feb 2024 11:54 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    If the Circus Can Do It, Can’t We? — A Conversation with Dave Sloan and Jen Morand

    As MAMA members and as people working in the auto industry, you should know long-time MAMA rock stars Dave Sloan and Jen Morand. We’re slipping this bonus Member Spotlight into Chicago Auto Show (CAS) week to celebrate and honor Dave’s last year running CAS, support Jen as she steps into the lead role of our hometown show, and show both of them how lucky we are to have them. Thanks, Dave and Jen, co-General Managers of the Chicago Auto Show, for taking time out of your jam-packed schedule for this interview, and for your dedication to putting together the best auto show in the country. 

    We appreciate you! 

    — the MAMA Board




    CHERISE THREEWITT, MAMA VP of MEMBERSHIP:

    Dave, can you talk about some of your career highlights over your years with the auto show?


    DAVE:

    Sure. I’ve been with the Chicago Auto Trade Association, I was Executive Vice President, in 1993, so I’ve been President of the CATA and general manager of the show since 2010, and then in 2022, is that when it was, Jen?


    JEN:

    Yup.


    DAVE: 

    We became co-General Managers. That was so we wouldn’t lose Jen.


    JEN:

    [laughs]


    DAVE:

    And it’s all worked out… spectacularly. So, career highlights, one was when we expanded into two halls in 2005. We made an announcement in 2004. First, we had to get the North Hall. 


    DAVE:

    We had to convince the tourism bureau, whose job it is to fill hotel rooms, that a public show, with largely drive-in attendance, was good for using that much of McCormick Place for that much time in a month that’s normally a quiet month on the McCormick Place calendar. And so we were successful in doing that and it happened to coincide with Chrysler, at the time probably Daimler-Chrysler, coming up with the idea of Camp Jeep, and so we had to convince the people at McCormick Place that we could have vehicles moving up and down hills, inside the show, and our initial answer from them was “no.” I wrote a letter to the mayor, and thankfully we had a very well-connected labor lawyer at the time who helped us get that letter into the right hands, and so the safety officials, it was really with the city, reconsidered, and it’s funny because we got the “no,” and the answer was, you can’t have vehicles moving where there’s, you know, the public. I was watching a commercial, this was some time during the year, after we got the “no,” and it was the circus at United Center and they had motorcycles going inside these steel balls, and it was like, “If the circus can do it, can’t we?” So anyway, we asked that question, better worded than what I just did there, and we got the “no” turned into a “yes.” As we got bigger, Daimler-Chrysler that year went from 60,000 square feet to 180,000 square feet, just with Dodge, Jeep, and Ram, and Chrysler. So they had a multi-brand track, they had a Dodge track, which was the trucks, back then before Ram, and then Jeep. It was just wildly successful for us, and has been for 20 years. And we’ll get them back [editor’s note: Stellantis, now the corporate parent of Jeep, Dodge, Ram, and Chrysler, will not be participating at the Chicago Auto Show this year].


    DAVE:

    Another highlight was the summer show. To think that this team, this small team, we were trying to get the show open during the pandemic and Mark Bilek just did an amazing job helping us be able to sell all of our tickets online and have timed entrance windows so we can sell all this to the city and to the state and get a “yes.” We couldn’t get a “yes” for February 2021 (the special edition ran in July 2021), but I’d had this idea for how we could refashion the show to be shorter and smaller and have an outdoor element to it with test drives, and make it less expensive to the manufacturers due to the shorter move-in and we’d charge less for five days rather than 10 so we cut our exhibits price by 40%. We got it approved and I remember the day we announced it at McCormick Place, the governor and the mayor were there, and Jen was like, her fingers were smoking on her keyboard, like, standing at this highboy table just getting us everywhere, just PR social media extraordinaire. Then we were able to open without too many, really any health restrictions at all because it was during a lull in the pandemic and it just really went well. We were the only show then, the only big show, that was able to run every year during the pandemic. Never missed a show.


    CHERISE:

    So, Dave, what are you going to miss most in retirement and what are you looking forward to most in retirement?


    DAVE:

    You know, for all the show anxiety that we have, as it goes… Jen’s been saying for the past couple of weeks, “I just can’t wait to get it open.” 


    JEN:

    We need to get down to McCormick Place.


    DAVE:

    It really is fun to see just how much people enjoy the show. And then, on the association side, we’ve had a couple of big legislative victories that our team’s been involved in. We work with the best of the best of dealers. I know that there’s a bad reputation for dealers sometimes, but we work with really great people, really great businesspeople who are a big part of their communities and it’s gratifying to see just how they work together in their communities and work for something like BBQ for the Troops, or the betterment of this organization, and there’s a lot of great things about it. So, the excitement of the show and the fun of working with dealers who are just great businesspeople. 


    CHERISE:

    What are your plans for retirement?


    DAVE:

    I’m looking forward to spending time with my granddaughters. My wife watches them every day. We moved close to their school, where they will go to school and where my daughter-in-law teaches, so we get to watch the little ones every day and then the older one, we get to see every day. Being a grandfather has just really changed my outlook on life. To be able to retire early and buy five extra years with my wife and my granddaughters is really exciting. 


    CHERISE:

    This is for both of you — why is Jen the perfect person to take over for Dave? You can sing your praises here, Jen.


    DAVE:

    I will sing her praises. So, Jen is, like, the perfect employee. And [MAMA President Robert] Duffer will tell you this, because we had this conversation. When Jen came to tell me she had been recruited to a PR firm downtown, I said to Duffer, “It’s, like, my worst day. My one job was to hold on to Jen.” Then, he said, “Well, how long did you have her?” and I said, “10 years,” and he said, “That’s probably five years longer than you deserved to have her.”


    CHERISE:

    Sounds like Duffer.


    DAVE:

    Her expertise with social media and everything digital has allowed us to expand the reach of the show far beyond the 10 days at McCormick Place. That really is the future of where auto shows are going. So to lose her at this critical time, we could have made it work, but it was too much to overcome at the time. While I might have been the right leader for that particular moment, she’s the right leader for the future, so if we lost her, the question would be, could we ever get her back? I just couldn’t take that chance. So I accelerated my timeline, which worked, again, for me and my wife personally. It’s not a sacrifice, I don’t want to make it sound like it is. It’s what is right for our association, and Jen and I have had this discussion many times. The opportunity for me to put her in an opportunity to succeed at CATA really puts a nice little bow on my career because she is the right person to take us forward. 


    JEN:

    Every time I hear that story, I told Dave this, I don’t have the words to thank him quite yet [laughs] because it just seems to fall flat. What I would say is, I’ve always looked up to Dave as a mentor throughout my whole career and we actually come from a very similar background, which is kind of full circle how we met and how I came to work at the Chicago Auto Trade Association in the first place. So our background is very similar, public relations, and that as we all know on this call has transitioned more to the digital…back in the day I was faxing press releases, and then it turned to, how do you reach the people where they are? The advent of social media actually started the Chicago Auto Show’s Facebook fan page, when it wasn’t a profile page, it was a fan page back in the day, and our Twitter account, so it’s kind of fun to come full circle. I give Dave a lot of credit for his foresight to see that because I don’t know many people who would have that same take on the situation. I feel very humbled, I always say this, [for Dave] to be really selfless and to think about the show and the positioning of our show moving forward. I feel very lucky to be in this position every day. Obviously we’re faced with a lot of challenges… we do have a lot of challenges, we’re not sugarcoating anything, and we’re going to adapt. Our whole team, Dave mentioned Mark, but we have a fantastic team. Jim OBrill, obviously, is a board member of MAMA, he’s a crucial team member to us. Hayley Feichter is another MAMA member, fantastic, talking about digital and social, it’s almost like the next generation. It’s been really fun to lead this team and co-lead with Dave. His knowledge, the 30 years’ historical knowledge, is so important. I would just add that there’s no one in our industry, the auto trade association leaders, that have done this. Sometimes the person retires too soon or unexpectedly and they don’t have a transition in place, so it’s actually sparked some of our leaders across the country to follow what Dave’s doing and say, “Wow, that’s really smart,” because this job is so unique. Like Dave said, he kind of alluded to it, we have a lot of legislative priorities, we do a lot of different behind-the-scenes things that people don’t always pinpoint with this job. You think of the auto show, what everyone knows about and hears about. It’s our Super Bowl, it’s our big event. But there are a lot of other priorities that we have throughout the year, so it’s been fantastic to have Dave as a leader and a mentor and to have him here these couple of years, to continue to learn from him has been… I mean, I’m just so fortunate and so lucky every day. 


    DAVE:

    Just to elaborate on Jen’s strengths and the Chicago Auto Show for a moment, we have always branded ourselves as “the consumer auto show,” right? And the pendulum has swung back to, “Oh, auto shows are really about the consumer, it turns out,” singing our song that we’ve been saying for 10 years. The value we get through social media and hundreds of thousands of people on the show floor with a recording device, a phone, then pushes all that content out to their friends and family and followers, to be able to harness that and measure it and then be able to report those measurements to the OEMs, that is what Jen and Mark and now Hayley and Jim have done so well and really positioned Chicago well for the future, again. I echo what Jen said earlier about Mark and Chris Konecki, they’re kind of close to me in age and to make the move to Jen just signals to the manufacturers, the OEMs, the exhibitors, that we’re in this for the long haul. We see the future. And to have someone Jen’s age and experience and expertise shows exactly where we think the shows are going. 


    JEN:

    Dave sort of mentioned this too, but in terms of the auto show, it’s not just the in-person event that’s an auto show, it’s all the digital tie to it. That’s where the sweet spot happens because what we found is that car shopping websites have a major uptick in traffic when our auto show is taking place. Showing that people are going to their sites, shopping for vehicles, learning about their vehicles. We know that our digital impressions, the numbers are crazy, it’s millions and billions of impressions, I almost feel silly saying that, but that’s the kind of reach that our hashtag and our mentions get during that period. Our team, Jim and Hayley, to their credit, we take a 10-day public show and the content from that show and we literally communicate with our fans throughout the whole year. That’s very unique to our show. I know other shows sometimes tend to go dark when their event’s not taking place, which makes complete sense, but we are lucky in the fact that we have other assets, like Drive Chicago, with our radio show, with our website, with our social channels, to use that as a platform as well. I think that because of our team’s strength and background in marketing and digital that we’re able to carry that message out in a year-round way.


    CHERISE:

    You can both speak to this. How has the partnership between CATA and MAMA been beneficial?


    DAVE:

    You may know that my predecessor, Jerry Cizek, told Jim Mateja, “Hey, we need to have a media association here in Chicago,” and Mateja got it going. I think I was around for the first rally, I was working for a PR firm and Rick Popely and my boss went and sent us a rally route before Mark Bilek got us in with Road America. It’s been a great relationship and the one thing that wasn’t said when talking about the investment in the Chicago Auto Show and so on, we do go halvers on that breakfast, MAMA and the CATA, and it used to be that someone from MAMA would sit, collect $20 or something like that for the MAMA luncheon at the time, which started on a Wednesday afternoon, and then we finally said, “Let’s just make this free and make it a breakfast,” and it worked for the two-day thing that we had. It’s really been a great relationship, obviously. We built this building during that time and then it became a place where MAMA could have luncheons and not have to pay a lot of fees for hosting something at a hotel or something like that. We love it because we’ve had four staffers as board members of MAMA in different capacities and there’s been a great relationship there over the years. 


    JEN:

    I’d just elaborate too by saying that the MAMA group, and I think a lot of us share the same sentiment, just feels like family. It’s so wonderful to just be able to pick up the phone and call you, Cherise, or call someone at a manufacturer, and you already have that relationship established. Road America and the Spring Rally and those events certainly help cement that, but I just always appreciate the candidness that our group has with one another and just the ability to help one another, really. It’s been wonderful, and we look forward to continue that relationship. I know we’ve kind of gotten away from the in-person events because of the pandemic, we’ve had a lot of virtual lunch-and-learns, which are great, time-efficient and everything, that’s great, but our building was kind of the meeting place, too, so, happy to continue to offer that location to MAMA members. We look forward to another long-term relationship with the MAMA breakfast, of course, and us sponsoring and partnering on the Spring Rally. It’s been great. And I should mention, Chicago Drives Electric, that was one of those crazy ideas, well, not crazy but it came out and we said, “Well, we have six months to pull this off, let’s line it all up.” We’re going to have a consumer test drive day, of course, but also a media day, we called our friends at MAMA and they were of course on board and had some wonderful ideas about how to get it off the ground.That’s been a wonderful partnership now over the past couple years and we look forward to partnering for a third year in the fall. 


    CHERISE:

    Thank you! See you soon!


    This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 



  • 25 Jan 2024 5:03 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)


    The Midwest Automotive Media Association (MAMA), an organization comprised of automotive journalists and related industry professionals, elected its 2024 Board of Directors during its annual January business meeting which was held on Wednesday, January 24th.

    The newly elected board includes MAMA’s Secretary Paul Herrold, Treasurer Kelley Enright, and Communications Director Jim OBrill. President Robert Duffer, Vice President Robby DeGraff, and VP of Membership Cherise Threewitt continue with their second year term along with President Emeritus Harvey Briggs.

    During the annual business meeting it was reported that the association, which was founded in 1991, currently maintains a membership of 271 automotive journalists and industry professionals serving in the automotive industry or related fields (+3% YoY).

    It was also announced that the MAMA’s annual Family Vehicle of the Year and Luxury Family Vehicle of the Year awards have been changed. The new award program will be called “MAMA’s Favorites” and will include 7 specific categories: Family Vehicle, Luxury Vehicle, Off-Roader, Pick-up Truck, Performance Vehicle, Affordable Vehicle, and Plug-in Vehicle. Additionally, from each category, one overall winner will be selected as the overall “Favorite Vehicle of the Year” which will be revealed at the Chicago Auto Show MAMA Breakfast on February 8th.

    The finalists of the MAMA’s Favorites are: Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid Max (Family), Genesis G90 3.5T E-Supercharger AWD (Luxury), Chevy Trax (Affordable), Jeep Wrangler Rubicon X 4xe (Off-Roader), Ford Maverick Tremor (Pick-up), Ford Mustang Dark Horse (Performance), and Hyundai Ioniq 6 (Plug-in).


  • 19 Jan 2024 3:03 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Brian Roskelly, an editor at Cox Automotive with Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader, is another of the up-and-coming generation of auto journalists that joined MAMA in 2023. If you haven’t met Brian yet, keep an eye out—he’s sharp and ambitious, and is a great conversation partner at a press dinner.


    MAMA: How did you get started in the automotive media industry? 

    Brian: Networking and persistence, before and during the height of a once-in-a-generation pandemic. My automotive career started with an internship at Mercedes-Benz USA's corporate communications agency in Atlanta, GA, but the two individuals who kicked off my support network were Scotty Reiss and Davis Adams, both fellow alumni from the University of Georgia.

    MAMA: How did you find MAMA? 

    Brian: Encouragement from Midwestern industry colleagues who I now call friends (Robby DeGraff, Jill Ciminillo, probably others).

    MAMA: What’s been your favorite vehicle you’ve reviewed? 

    Brian: Hyundai IONIQ 5.

    MAMA: What do you like to do for fun when you’re not working?

    Brian: Biking, inline skating, skiing, riding roller coasters, exploring my city.

    MAMA: What was your first car? 

    Brian: A 2013 Scion tC.


    Here are links to Brian’s favorite recent article and video:

    https://www.autotrader.com/oversteer/genesis-making-all-right-moves

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQIcnQZRkSk

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