Jean Jennings, Automotive Journalist Trailblazer, Dies at Age 70

A legendary name in the automotive industry, Jean Jennings, passed away in Jackson, Michigan on December 16, 2024, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease.

Jean Jennings was not only a trailblazing pioneer in automotive journalism for both men and women alike, but she was an inspiration to all writers, with a bright personality and a level of intellect that took her writing beyond surface level and pushed the boundaries of car publications. Everything people say, do and write holds an impact, and Jennings demonstrated that fact to legendary status. Her determination and success lead her to be a role model for other women looking to make a name for themselves within a male dominated industry.

Born in Detroit on February 3, 1954, into a family with a background in automotive journalism, Jean paved her own path for her career. Before accepting her first job as an automotive journalist at Car and Driver in 1981, she joined the team at the Chrysler Proving Grounds in Chelsea, Michigan, working as a test driver, welder, and mechanic and editing the award-winning UAW newsletter. After just five years with Car and Driver, she co-founded Automobile magazine with David E. Davis Jr. and became the publication’s first executive editor. In 2000, she was promoted to editor-in-chief of Automobile, and by 2006 her title rose to President. She was the first woman to lead a major monthly national car magazine. During her time as President, Automobile was the first car magazine to win a National Magazine Award.

When she entered the automotive media world, Jennings put a fun spin on the way things were written, partially by making fun of the very world she was working in. Her extensive career as an automotive journalist and editor earned Jennings multiple awards, including the International Motor Press Association’s 2007 Ken Purdy Award for her June 2006 Automobile cover story titled, “Veyron in the USA.”  In 2016, she was recognized with the New England Motor Press Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Motor Press Guild’s 2016 Dean Batchelor Award for Lifetime Achievement. She was inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame in 2021.

Jean Jennings was popular in text and on the television screen. Most notably, she appeared on shows like The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Oprah and served as the automotive correspondent on ABC’s Good Morning America from 1994 to 2000. In 2014, she was a judge for the 10-episode Chevrolet-sponsored reality show Motor City Masters, highlighting car-based design challenges.

She founded the website JeanKnowsCars in 2012, where she shared lively, insightful car reviews, then she relaunched it in 2015 leading with this video:

“Jean was a towering figure with an even bigger personality and enhanced her presence with her signature hats,” her loved ones wrote in her obituary. “It was not unusual to see her at the racetrack wearing a custom French chapeau with shoulder-length feathers or at a global media event in a brightly colored felt hat that would be at home in the land of Dr. Seuss.”

One of her proudest accomplishments was one that she spoke passionately about:

 “I had a dream to put on a car show for Caden Bowles, a young patient at CS Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Caden waited all summer for a heart transplant that never came, and he died on September 11 of his eleventh year. Aided by the staff at the hospital, by automotive journalists, by the greater car industry, by enthusiastic car owners, and by friends, we put on our fourth annual Caden’s Car Show starring the real Optimus Prime among 70+ vintage and exotic cars in attendance. Hands down, my proudest achievement and still the best thing I do with my otherwise ridiculously privileged life.”

“In a business that takes itself very seriously, Jean brought joy, laughter, and intelligent cynicism to her writing,” her obituary reads. “As an editor, she nurtured talent in her writers and collaborators and was a fearless critic of falsehood and artifice. She did not suffer fools. She treasured her family and friends…She was the best storyteller – and the best audience for a good story.”

She will be deeply missed by her family, friends, and readers, and by a generation of writers inspired by her work.

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