Tim Pollard

Group Digital Editorial DirectorRead more

Tim Pollard lived with a Tesla Model S to find out more about electric cars

Tim oversees the editorial teams that bring you Parkers.co.uk, one of the UK’s biggest motoring editorial websites, and our sister site CAR magazine. He’s passionate about helping Britain’s motorists get into the best cars at the most competitive prices, and has appeared on BBC and ITV news, Radio 4’s Today and PM programmes and other national TV and radio stations commenting on motoring matters.

He’s worked at many of the UK’s biggest automotive outlets, including stints as deputy editor of What Car?, running CAR magazine’s award-winning website, heading up the news section of Autocar magazine and writing about company cars for Business Car, Fleet News and Fleet Week. Tim’s reviewed cars for newspapers, magazines and websites – and spent a couple of years on the staff at Microsoft, sprucing up his digital publishing skills leading MSN Cars.

In that time, he’s picked up a few trophies along the way, including the Guild of Motoring Writers’ prestigious Journalist of the Year award, the Periodical Publishers’ Association (PPA) Digital Innovation of the Year and Bauer Media’s Digital Editor of the Year gong. In 2022 he was chair of the British Society of Magazine Editors, a forum for independent journalistic best practice.

Tim’s also contributed to various books, including the Rough Guide to Apple Playlists (2006) and a chapter on digital publishing for Last Words? How Can Journalism Survive The Decline of Print? (2017). He lives and breathes motoring journalism and is one of the most trusted voices in the UK sector.

‘Is there any such thing as a bad car nowadays?,’ he asks. ‘Real stinkers are few and far between, as quality standards have risen across the board. Yet there’s still a gulf between the merely average and the truly exceptional car – and identifying great new vehicles is what drives me and the Parkers team every day.

‘There’s no greater thrill in this job than finding a car which rips up the established order of things to set new class standards. And as a father of two and owner of a golden retriever puppy, I always have an eye out for cars combining practicality, value and fun.’

Tim’s top tips for Parkers readers are:

Hyundai and Kia are on a roll – the South Korean car brands are mixing progressive design with breakthrough EV tech
Watch out for the burgeoning array of Chinese cars arriving in the UK: the best Chinese EVs are really rather good…
Volvo’s car range is smashing it out of the park right now
Fancy a sports car? Tim’s still smitten by the Porsche 718 Cayman…