Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   The Indian Car Scene (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/)

-   -   Leading online auto media outlets come together to form FASTER (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/233408-leading-online-auto-media-outlets-come-together-form-faster-2.html)

My bet is that they will introduce an automation that will copy paste articles from one website to another, which they were doing manually all the time, and that with the excuse of this union. :uncontrol The majority of users they get is through google and I am sure no one will even google specific for their website. And these users wont give a damn about whether they are a union or a portal operating out of someone's mobile. Even if you do a google search for a manufacturer name + car name + review, not a single portal will appear in the suggestions except TBHP or Autocar maybe which itself speaks of the popularity. Not sure what they want to achieve out of such stuff, apart from maybe shouting 'WE FIRST' when every car is launched. But in this process, the end result is obvious, looking at the kind of content they produce.

Best of luck to them for whatever they want to achieve. Until date to be honest I havent seen the kind of content that TBHP along with other major magazines like Autocar or Overdrive(both with some amount of bias) can get out to the public in comparison to these autoportals with cut paste info, clickbaits and with ads all over the place sometimes overpowering the actual content itself.

The only admirable thing I had come across is how GaadiWadi would get spyshots from Maruti plants. Apart from that, I havent seen something that has made me admire the rest.

This is a classic case of "Since I am not really important or big, let me collaborate and make a group. I will have exclusive membership of this and hence I would then be somebody." They may even charge membership fees for some newcomers to be a part of this group so that they get some more cars to review.

Coming back to the point of Faisal Khan. I have seen Motorbeam work out of 91Springboard and do check his videos once in a while. Started from scratch, has reached a decent amount of followers, works his way to self-sustain. He may not do "our kind of reviews" but I am sure he has his audience. Respect for people who sustain that way.

Coming to the last point of doing biased reviews. It's us audiences who decide what to watch and what to read. If you think the reviews are biased, don't watch. If you don't and he doesn't get views, he will re-think. But as long as it is working, it is fine.

I am sure with the kind of group in the photo, the name was always going to be catchy.

The only purpose of such collaboration can be that they can collectively either Ban or Promote a certain product. Gives them more control of OEM`s.

For OEM`s PR team it becomes easy to deal with one SPOC rather than communicating individually.

Also, business point of view, collective viewership can command better add revenue.

Gave up reading the auto mags and their associated websites a long while ago. They seem to be forming a cartel.
Thank god for TBHP! Now if I could only find sites similar to TBHP for everything else...

Oh! Another group formed to discredit new entrants and organizations that do not "think alike". In short in a year or two they will start working as a representative and anyone who will work differently will be thoroughly discredited and their image maligned. We see this with "news fact-checkers" and how pathetic they are.

These sort of organizations are never good. With more money flowing they will put forth collective statements and will declare a vehicle or company good or bad. I have full faith that in a couple of years they will extort money from companies to give them good exposure and ratings or bad if they don't pay.

I expect some very vague reviews for the upcoming Skoda Kushaq from this ‘cartel’. Kushaq media drive seems to be the point from where all this started.

All these self proclaimed ‘leading auto journalist’ have no creditibilty when it comes to the reviews. Particularly this guy Faisal Khan reviews the cars in the most unprofessional way ever. From his unnecessary ‘wheelspin on offer’ in start of every video to uploading pictures of car while using them for personal purposes, he has turned in to some guy who is just fascinated with every new car and loves to pose with it.

This seems nothing more than an exercise to show the auto world/ OEMs that they still exist and want to be respected like the others.

Now this here is sheer passion with a kickass attitude 😎.
No amounts of "gaadi motor this-that adrak-lahssan" media can ever provide quality content like Team-BHP.

Why is it called "FAS"ter? Looks like one person is making the decisions instead of a group

I do find his voice annoying and his antics on the road pretty dangerous and therefore I have specifically blocked content from any of his media to be blocked on youtube. The last straw was youtube suggesting me a video where he put his wedding video on youtube. The title said something on the lines of "I got married" and I actually thought it was click bait and that he cant be that desperate for eyeballs but I was wrong. It was a cringefest! :Frustrati

The only person in that picture who I actually like is Gagan Chaudhary, whose name is not in the article. His reviews are generally detailed and unbiased. However, they're only in Hindi, which can cut off non-Hindi speakers.

I cannot stand Faisal and how he treats his lady colleague.

Only know Faisal Khan among these ‘most influential’ automobile reviewers. Don’t understand how this will be beneficial to the consumer! (whom they presumably serve in the end)

The name FASTER is okay. Not bad. But the full form of the moniker, Federation of Auto Scribes of the Electronic Realm? It’s as unwanted as the screams of Faisal Khan when he is supposedly reviewing the cars.

When you don’t have to worry how your work will be judged by the automakers and how the favours will stop, you produce the best there is.

Even more reason for this gold standard is a pretty simple thing. As they have said for ages, when you do what you love the most, you do it the best.

Also, like Guru Bhai said, to beat TBHP, you have to be like TBHP, but in the end there is only one TBHP. :)

Who are these people?

Kahaan se aate hain ye? - Adv. Jagdish Tyagi a.k.a. Jolly

On a more serious note, I have seen content from all of these creators on their Youtube channels and IG. None of their reviews come out as serious and can at best be termed generic/ mediocre. Anybody with six months of driving experience can put out the kind of content these guys put out. There is simply no eye for detail and there is a serious lack of class and finesse, more so prominent in one than the others. They also seem to speak the same language. If one says right, all say right; if one says poor suspension, all say poor suspension. The funny bit is that the one probably read it on some other automotive portal like Autocar etc. to form his opinion and then stuck with it.

Unions are an instrument of collective bargain; bargaining for those who are otherwise individually weak. Are those at 'FAS|TER' explicitly trying to certify that they are weak; weak because they lack real knowledge, information, resources, and creativity to dish out quality content? The funny bit is that I am aware of another such union in the pipeline by another such bunch of youtube creators.

FAS...Realm, D'oh! Why o'why didn't they take the red pill?

There are a lot of good independent Youtube creators like ChrisFix, SavageGeese, Rev Up Your Engines 'Scotty Kilmer', Quirks and Features 'Doug DeMuro', etc. and they are as individualistic, independent, knowledgeable, and objective as they can be. These FAS|TER guys are just copycat gimmics who all have been singing the same copied tunes over the years. People have frankly gotten bored and moved on to better things. The same is reflected in their subscriber growth. As for Skoda, they really don't need to care much about these creators as long as they have a strong product at hand. After all, they are just creators and not credible auto journo-enthusiasts like Jeremy Clarkson, Chris Harris, Tiff Needell, Harry Metcalfe, etc.

My only submission, NEVER RELY ON SUCH YOUTUBE REVIEWERS AS A CREDIBLE SOURCE OF INFORMATION ON AUTOMOBILES, more so if you're planning on buying one of them.

When it comes to the Indian automotive scene, TeamBHP is the gold standard.

I couldn’t agree more.

I watch Gagan Chaudhary’s reviews and his videos are decent with attention to detail.

I’m an avid Instagram user and happened to see some videos of so called “top journalists”. Their videos are far from being called as “reviews”. They just show off new cars every other week and get to drive luxury cars without spending a penny. :Frustrati

Knowledge is obtained so that we don't have to obtain them again, after being a car hobbyist for so long, keenly observing photos of 90s cars like Pontiac, Citroen, Peugeot, Suzuki, Datsun, Suzuki, Chevrolet, Opel etc, to reading perhaps the most credible reviews, technical discussions and ownership experiences here itself, where even fanboy posts get quickly balanced out by neutral or opposing views, I feel no need to even look at YouTube review channels, as far as I see it, it's a federation of unwatchable hacks.

As for the leader of the so called union, notorious hyper extreme Honda fanboy, knows nothing about cars or driving, just pedal to the metal action like a petulant kid. Talks like he is on crack cocaine and drives like one too.

Test drive your favorite cars and buy what you like, don't fall for influencers and paid shills.