Editorial Standards

Last updated: September 15, 2026

1. What we cover

Exotic Car News (ECN) covers the high end of the automotive world: supercars and hypercars, luxury and grand touring cars, high-performance EVs and hybrids, motorsport, auctions and the collector market, and the business of owning these cars, from insurance and storage to privacy and the events that bring owners together.

We write for enthusiasts, collectors, owners and people who work in the industry. ECN is published by Exotic Motors Media LLC and edited in Miami.

2. What every article has to add

A story earns its place by giving readers something the announcement alone doesn’t: original reporting, analysis, historical context, a comparison with earlier models or rivals, or a clear explanation of something complicated. Beyond what happened, we try to answer why it matters, what changed, what is still uncertain and what may come next.

We optimize our articles so readers can find them through search engines, Google Discover and AI-powered search, using clear structure, accurate metadata, structured data and fast, mobile-friendly pages. That work never outranks accuracy or readability. We don’t pad articles with repeated keywords, and we don’t publish a piece whose only reason to exist is a search term.

3. Who is responsible

Every article carries the byline of the editor accountable for it. Our editors are:

• John Karlsson, Editor. Leads coverage of supercars, hypercars, luxury vehicles, the collector and auction market and motorsport, and is responsible for these standards.
• Damiano Mazza, Editor. Covers the market and business side of the high-end car world: values, auction activity, pricing, ownership economics and buyer demand.
• Michael Perrone, Editor. Covers new models, manufacturers, automotive technology, and how high-end cars are marketed, valued and sold.

An editor approves every article before it is published, and the byline tells you who answers for that story. These standards apply to everything we publish, whether the work comes from our editors, an outside contributor or a technology-assisted workflow.

4. Accuracy and sourcing

We go to the source. For a new model, that means the manufacturer’s own announcement and technical data. For a sale, it means the auction house’s published result. For a regulation, a lawsuit or a public program, it means the agency, the court record or the filing itself. Where those documents are public, we link to them. When we rely on reporting from elsewhere, we weigh how close the source is to the information, its track record, and any interest it has in the story.

• Figures are attributed. Horsepower, top speed, range, production numbers and prices belong to the manufacturer, the seller or the dataset they came from, unless we say we measured them ourselves. When a number comes from third-party tracking or research, we say so.
• Confirmed and unconfirmed stay separate. We distinguish what a company has announced from what has been reported elsewhere and from what is expected. Specifications that haven’t been confirmed are marked that way rather than estimated.
• Prices say what kind of price they are. We specify whether a figure is a manufacturer’s suggested retail price, an estimate, an asking price or an auction result, and whether an auction price includes the buyer’s premium. Where specifications vary by market, model year or configuration, we say which one we’re quoting.
• Rumor is labeled as rumor. Spy shots, leaks and industry talk can be newsworthy. When we report them, we say where the information came from, what is and isn’t confirmed, and what could change it.
• Names appear the way their owners write them. Model names and event names follow the manufacturer’s or organizer’s own styling.

Before publication, every article is checked against a written review list that covers sourcing, figures, whether the headline matches the story, imagery and captions, links, and disclosures.

5. Attribution and quotations

We don’t present anyone else’s work as our own. When another outlet reported a story first, we credit that outlet, and material from photographers, researchers and manufacturers is attributed to them. Quotations are reproduced accurately and are never shortened or edited in a way that changes their meaning.

6. Headlines and presentation

A headline should make you want to read the story, and it should still be true once you have. It reflects how certain the reporting is, so a rumor is never headlined as a fact, and we don’t pose a question when we already know the answer is no. The same applies to featured images, summaries and social posts: each has to represent what the article actually says.

7. News, analysis, opinion and paid content

We keep different kinds of writing distinct so you know what you are reading.

• News reports what happened, who said it, and what is confirmed.
• Analysis is the editor’s reading of the evidence. That includes our “Why it matters” sections and pieces that connect a week’s headlines into a single argument. Analysis draws conclusions, and it shows the facts those conclusions rest on.
• Guides and explainers cover how something works, such as collector car insurance or license plate readers, and are updated as the subject changes.
• Opinion and reviews are labeled as such and represent the author’s view.
• Sponsored content, if we publish it, is labeled as sponsored at the top of the page. Advertisers do not write, review or approve our editorial coverage.
• Affiliate links, where they appear, are disclosed on the page.

Display advertising on ECN is served by Google’s automated systems. Our editors don’t choose individual ads, and an ad appearing beside a story is not an endorsement. Our Terms of Use have more detail.

8. Independence and our parent company

Exotic Car News is owned by Exotic Motors Media LLC, which also runs other businesses in the high-end automotive market, including the vehicle marketplace ExoticMotors.com and Motor Stables, a marketplace for automotive real estate such as garage condominiums, car storage and motor clubs. Our editors are owners of Exotic Motors Media LLC and have a financial interest in those businesses. This is how we handle that:

• When an article mentions or links to a business our parent company owns, the sentence says so, for example “our sister marketplace.”
• We link to those businesses’ general pages, never to individual listings, and we don’t write stories to promote a specific vehicle or property that is for sale.
• No one outside ECN approves an article before it runs. We don’t send drafts to manufacturers, dealers, auction houses or advertisers for sign-off, though we may check specific facts with them.
• We don’t promise coverage in exchange for payment, advertising, products, travel or access.
• When a manufacturer or event organizer provides travel, accommodation or a vehicle for a story, the article says so. That access doesn’t buy a favorable review.
• We honor the embargoes we agree to.

9. How we use AI

AI tools are part of how ECN is produced, and we would rather tell you plainly how. We use them to:

• find, gather and summarize public sources during research;
• draft, edit and structure articles, including summary boxes, data tables and FAQs;
• suggest headlines and search metadata;
• create illustrations for articles.

What doesn’t change is who is responsible. An editor chooses what we cover, checks names, figures and claims against the sources, and approves each article before publication. We don’t use AI to invent quotes, sources, test results or events, and nothing an AI tool produces is published without an editor’s review. The question we ask isn’t whether a tool was involved. It’s whether the finished article is accurate, original, useful and honest about how it was made.

AI-generated images are captioned as editorial visualizations. They are never presented as photographs, never depict real people, and are never offered as a record of how a particular car, place or event actually looked. When a visualization shows a specific model, the caption makes clear that it is an illustration, not a photograph of that car. Our AI and Imagery Disclosure explains this in more detail.

10. Photography

Photographs taken by our own team are credited to us. Images from manufacturers, auction houses, event organizers and licensed photographers are credited to their source, and a manufacturer that supplies photos gets no say over our coverage. We crop, resize and correct exposure and color, but we don’t edit a photograph in any way that changes what it shows.

11. Corrections and updates

Cars, prices and market data keep moving after we publish, and sometimes we get something wrong. When we confirm that an article is inaccurate or out of date, we fix it in the article promptly, and the article’s update date changes with it. Stories about developing subjects, such as unfinalized specifications, release dates and auction results, are updated as better information becomes available.

To report an error, use our contact page. Include the article’s link and what you believe needs correcting, with a source if you have one. An editor reviews every report.

12. Tips and sources

We welcome tips, photographs and story ideas through our contact page. We verify what we receive before we publish it, and we don’t report a single unverified claim as fact.

We rarely rely on anonymous sources. When we do, an editor knows who the source is, the information is something we couldn’t get on the record, and the article explains why the source wasn’t named. We don’t reveal the identity of a source we have agreed to protect.

13. Fairness and privacy

When an article makes a significant critical claim about a company or a person, we give them a reasonable chance to respond before publication, and we report their response or that they declined to give one. Established facts don’t need an artificial opposing view; the aim is fairness, not false balance.

We don’t publish private individuals’ home addresses or personal contact details, we respect owners who ask not to be identified with their cars, and we don’t publish unlawfully obtained private information just because it has become available.

14. Changes to these standards

We review these standards as ECN grows and update this page when our practices change. The date at the top shows the most recent revision.

15. Contact us

Questions about these standards, or about a specific article:

Exotic Car News
A publication of Exotic Motors Media LLC
Reach us through our contact page.