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Our Team
Martin Padgett is Internet Brands Automotive Group’s Editorial Director. He ensures the quality of content across the Group’s portfolio of automotive destinations, which include The Car Connection, Motor Authority, and Green Car Reports. Padgett oversees the editorial development of each site, as well as vehicle reviews and evaluations that are unique to The Car Connection, including its numeric TCC Rating scoring system. He also guides deeply sourced industry reporting at each site, from first drive reviews of the latest supercars and electric vehicles, to in-depth analysis of topics that range from EV charging to the future of gas-powered trucks and SUVs. With a career that spans more than 30 years, Padgett has reported on the automotive industry since he joined Car and Driver magazine in 1991. Prior to joining the startup site that would become The Car Connection, he wrote for other prominent automotive outlets including AutoTrader, Edmunds, Automobile Magazine, Stuff, Outside, and BusinessWeek. As a juror for the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year awards, his insights and evaluations play a vital role in recognizing excellence within the automotive industry. Padgett is a native of Washington, D.C. He graduated with a BA in history with honors from Duke University. He earned an MFA in narrative nonfiction writing from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications in 2018. In 2023, he completed his PhD in U.S. Constitutional history at Georgia State University.
The Senior Editor in charge of Motor Authority, Bell has oil in his blood. He grew up in the automotive culture, helping his father drag race a pair of Pontiacs, rather unsuccessfully, at Great Lakes Dragaway in Union Grove, Wisconsin. Bell has been reviewing cars and writing about the automotive industry since 2001, when he joined Consumer Guide Automotive. At Consumer Guide, Kirk wrote and edited several books, including the award-winning Hot Rod & Custom Chronicle and NASCAR Chronicle, which earned him gold and silver International Automotive Media awards. Most recently, he spent eight years as a freelance journalist, with such clients as the Chicago Tribune, the New York Daily News, and MSN Autos. In 2014, Bell was named to the North American Car and Truck of the Year jury, and he gave back by serving as Secretary-Treasurer. He was also Vice President and then President of the Midwest Automotive Media Association. Prior to his time in the automotive industry, Bell was editor of Scale Auto Enthusiast magazine, the leading magazine about the model car hobby after graduating from Marquette University. In his spare time, Bell imagines the Midwest has better roads on which to drive his 2006 Porsche 911 Carrera S.
Vik is an Editor at Internet Brands Automotive Group and contributor for a number of sites within the Internet Brands Automotive Group network. He is a co-founder of Motor Authority and is one of Internet Brands Automotive Group’s experts on performance and luxury cars. After studying in the field of software engineering, it was an unlikely move for him to dive into a career built on a passion for cars, but it was one that led to the formation of one of the most popular car sites on the Web. Vik covers around-the-clock news for Internet Brands Automotive Group, and is currently based in Germany.
Joel Feder is Internet Brands Automotive Group’s Senior Producer. He helps oversee the day-to-day operation of Motor Authority along with all things social, video, OEM relations, and manage syndication partnerships across The Car Connection, Motor Authority, and Green Car Reports. Feder is a Minnesota native and a graduate from Drake University’s school of business where he served as the university’s first car critic. Feder was born a car guy with a background in business and marketing. While you’re reading this, he’s on his computer or iPhone reporting the latest automotive news.
Robert Duffer is an award-winning writer, editor, and automotive journalist covering the industry since 2013. He earned an MFA in Writing from Columbia College Chicago and a BA in Economics & Business Administration from Illinois State University. As the Senior Editor for The Car Connection and contributing editor for Motor Authority and Green Car Reports, he’s interviewed the executives and investigated the trends reshaping the automotive industry’s transformation into electric mobility. Previously, Duffer served as a Senior Journalist and Digital News Editor at the Chicago Tribune for seven years in another industry in transition, reporting on and editing automotive content for a digital and print audience that was syndicated to more than 140 news outlets via the Tribune Content Agency newswire. His syndicated auto review column was distributed nationally and digitized globally, and he oversaw a team of freelancers consisting of North American Car and Truck of the Year jurists and collaborated with Pulitzer-winning photographers, copy editors, and page designers in running the print and digital versions of the automotive vertical. As a freelancer, Duffer wrote about cars for outlets such as Forbes.com, Cars.com, US News Autos, among others, and covered the cultural arts and contributed essays in outlets ranging from the Chicago Tribune and TimeOut Chicago to the New York Times and National Public Radio. Beyond journalism and editing, Duffer wrote stories and essays anthologized in books such as “The Way We Sleep” and “Daddy Cool,” published novel excerpts in a range of journals, and won the One Book One Chicago flash fiction contest sponsored by the Chicago Public Library in October 2011. He’s written ad copy, edited a range of copy from gift guides to award-winning student anthologies, and is versed in both the Chicago Manual of Style and AP Style. Duffer has also moderated and served on many panels, ranging from the Clean Cities Coalition to the Chicago Auto Show. He’s a frequent guest on podcast and radio shows, ranging from WGN Radio to Chicago Drives Electric and many others. As President of the Midwest Automotive Media Association, Duffer led a volunteer organization consisting of more than 250 members in 25 states and two countries by organizing three tentpole driving events in the country and wrangling affiliates and automaker representatives to grow MAMA into the premier automotive media association in the country. Duffer's extensive industry experience, combined with his educational background and diverse writing portfolio, make him a trusted voice in the automotive realm. His contributions to The Car Connection and other notable publications continue to shape the conversation around cars and driving. Connect with Duffer on social media and stay up-to-date with his latest insights and automotive adventures.
Bengt Halvorson is the Editor of Green Car Reports and Internet Brands Automotive Group’s Senior Editor. He specializes in EVs and the transformation of the auto industry around them. For more than 25 years, Halvorson has reported on cars and the auto industry, honing in on topics related to efficiency and electric cars for nearly as long. He has written for a range of outlets including Forbes, Motor Trend, Time, Cargo, and Men’s Journal; consulted on powertrain tech for Detroit insiders; and tracked collector-car prices at Sports Car Market. He’s been cited in books about the evolution of hybrids and EVs, been a guest on Autoline, and led panels at the EV Roadmap conference and the Detroit auto show. In 2013 he established an EV-education-focused event called Drive Revolution. Early in his career he was a writer at the UK publication Autocar and an editor at Automobile Magazine. Until he took on his current role, he was a senior editor at Car and Driver, focused on nudging the gearhead/enthusiast publication toward greater EV awareness. Prior to that he was part of this group’s predecessor, High Gear Media, and helped start Green Car Reports. Halvorson also serves as a North American Car and Truck of the Year juror. He holds degrees in Applied Physics and Philosophy from the University of Michigan.
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Motor Authority is an automotive property of Internet Brands, which owns and operates the largest network of car buying and financing resources in North America, including CarsDirect, The Car Connection, Green Car Reports, and Auto Credit Express.
