Motormouth: Use your illusion, motoring journo

The Singapore motoring journalist who believes he is special/crucial to the car companies that care might be driving in a fantasy world, but it's a fantastic drive while it lasts.

That being said, our local motoring media does have relative rockstars. 

These folks qualified with their turbocharged combination of relevant attributes - being widely acknowledged by industry insiders as the best in the business of discussing/describing cars, having greater journalistic expertise and longer domain experience than any rookie born after 1999, reaching more/worthier readers (including local automotive leaders) than their peers ever could, and being chummy with decision-makers in the motor trade (from managers to directors). 

Then there are folks who are aspiring rockstars in Singapore-style motoring media, whether intentionally or incidentally. 

The intentional ones are easy to spot. They attend/cover car events with gusto, network like hardworking human versions of Singtel broadband, and try to "torque" shop with senior executives at every opportunity. All this is done to validate one’s editorial existence. 

The incidental ones are less easy to spot, because they tend to go with the flow and simply join the joyride, instead of chasing cars for money/glory as their main gig. 

They are usually young, trendy, cool/hot and optimistic - or at least younger, trendier, cooler/hotter and less pessimistic than the seniors, who started doing this proverbial dream job when COE was a novelty and today's juniors were somewhere between their parents' paktor stage and a primary school. 

So, we have spring chickens amidst old owls in the vehicular section of the content-creation farm where birds of a feather flock together and sometimes work together too. Even those creating content on a wing and a prayer are welcome, as long as the farmer approves.  

A few lucky/plucky ones manage to fly the coop and achieve happiness, prosperity and progress on the other side of the carpark. There, corporate opportunities beckon to frustrated creatives like promising lamp/job posts at the end of a long/wrong tunnel, which could be turning darker by the kilometre.

Some of the less lucky/plucky ones seem to be stuck in a drift without a destination, wheelspinning away between random car reviews and self-serving nuggets of apparent wisdom.

Dear fellow motoring journos, perhaps we should ask ourselves this question: Are we using the illusion for our benefit or is the illusion using us until we're useless?

Car reviewers should count their lucky stars that they are deemed to be automotive experts with a certain audience/influence.

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