Auto Today
Overview
Auto Today is a monthly English-language automobile magazine published in India by Living Media India Limited, the publishing arm of the India Today Group, and produced from Noida in Uttar Pradesh. It covers cars and motorcycles together in a single title: first drives and first rides, detailed comparison tests, launch news, industry analysis, road trips and long-term ownership reports. Its companion website, autotodayindia.com, carries the same coverage daily.
The magazine's own subscription promise sums up its formula: the most in-depth auto news coverage, the most detailed first drives and first rides, and comprehensive comparison tests in which, it says, the only thing left to the tester's perspective is the looks. That emphasis on measured, comparative testing, rather than first impressions alone, is the title's editorial signature.
Publisher and place in the India Today Group
Auto Today is published by Living Media India Limited. The India Today Group began in 1975 with the launch of the India Today magazine by the Purie family, and grew into one of India's most diversified media groups, spanning magazines, television news channels, radio and digital platforms. Auto Today is the group's dedicated automobile title, giving the group a specialist voice in the car and motorcycle market alongside its general news brands.
The group's automobile publishing has deep roots. Its editorial leadership connects Auto Today to that longer history: editor Yogendra Pratap, whose name appears as Editor on recent issues of Auto Today, previously led the group's earlier automobile magazine venture, bringing to the present title long experience of testing and editing in the Indian market. Rahul Ghosh serves as Deputy Editor, and recent issues credit the same senior team across the magazine's print and digital output.
What the magazine covers
A single recent issue shows the breadth of the title. The October 2025 issue, previewed with the September 2025 edition, led on Maruti Suzuki's new Victoris SUV, tested on and off the road against the challenge of the Hyundai Creta's dominance in its segment. Its two-wheeler lead was Hero MotoCorp's Xoom 160, described as one of India's first affordable maxi-scooters and tested in Pune, while international coverage reported launches from the IAA Mobility show in Munich, including the BMW iX3, the electric Mercedes-Benz GLC and a Skoda concept.
The same issue's Drives section featured the Mercedes-Benz CLE 53 AMG coupe, and a review of the updated Renault Kiger, while its Rides section covered the TVS Ntorq 150 and the Hero Glamour X. Beyond the vehicles themselves, the magazine analysed the implications of the GST 2.0 reforms for India's automotive sector across segments, joined Honda's Drive to Discover road trip through Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and updated its long-term fleet, which at that point included the MG Windsor, Honda Amaze, Royal Enfield Goan Classic 350 and Ather 450X. News, testing, policy, travel and ownership, all in one monthly package, is the Auto Today pattern.
Drives, rides and comparison tests
The heart of the magazine is its testing. First drives of new cars and first rides of new motorcycles report how a vehicle performs in Indian conditions, on Indian roads, at Indian prices. Comparison tests then set rivals against one another in detail, the format the magazine itself highlights as its strength, because most buyers are not choosing whether to buy, but which of two or three close rivals to buy.
Long-term fleet reports add the third layer. By running cars and motorcycles for months and reporting on them repeatedly, the magazine can write about fuel efficiency in real traffic, service experience, comfort over distance and the small faults that a one-day launch drive never reveals. The presence of electric vehicles such as the Ather 450X and MG Windsor in the long-term fleet reflects how central electric mobility has become to the magazine's testing work.
Language, sections and formats
Auto Today is published in English. A print issue is a substantial magazine: the September 2025 edition is listed at 180 pages, published by Living Media India Limited, with a reading age given as fourteen years and up, a reminder that automobile magazines are read by young enthusiasts long before they can buy a vehicle.
Within an issue, material is organised into recognisable sections, including Drives for cars, Rides for two-wheelers, news and launch coverage, features and road trips, and the long-term fleet reports. The same structure carries onto the website, where news, upcoming car and bike information, launch coverage and reviews are published continuously rather than monthly, under the India Today Auto banner.
Digital presence
The magazine's website, autotodayindia.com, presents itself as India's auto news portal from the India Today stable, carrying the latest car and bike news, automobile industry coverage, information on upcoming launches and full reviews. In practice, the digital operation is where Auto Today's coverage appears first: launches, price announcements and first impressions are web stories, while the monthly magazine gives the considered, tested verdict.
Social and video channels extend that reach, with the magazine publishing under its Auto Today handles and its editors active as public faces of the brand. For a monthly print title, that daily digital presence is now essential, and Auto Today is structured as a single editorial team feeding both, rather than as a magazine with a website attached.
Audience: buyers, enthusiasts and the industry
Auto Today serves three overlapping audiences. The first is the intending buyer, who uses its comparison tests, buyer's guidance and long-term reports to make a purchase decision worth lakhs of rupees. The second is the enthusiast, who reads road tests, road trips and international show coverage for pleasure and knowledge, whether or not a purchase is near. The third is the automotive industry itself: manufacturers, dealers and component and accessory businesses, for whom the magazine is both a channel to customers and a measure of how their products are judged.
Advertising material for the title makes the same point from the commercial side, noting that automobile magazine readers are passionate about cars and include enthusiasts, potential buyers and industry professionals, and that the magazine blends detailed features and reviews, industry news, technical information, event coverage and lifestyle content. In the Indian market, where a car purchase is a major family decision, a trusted testing brand influences far more purchases than its circulation alone would suggest.
Coverage of electric vehicles and industry change
Recent issues show how completely the magazine's agenda has been reshaped by electrification and policy. Its subscription lead highlighted Maruti Suzuki's entry into the electric vehicle space with the e Vitara and Honda's plans for India, noting how the availability of electric cars through hundreds of Nexa outlets would bring many more buyers to consider an electric vehicle. Its news analysis examined the effect of GST reform across automotive segments, and its show reporting from Munich was dominated by new electric models from European manufacturers.
That mix is the modern Indian auto journalist's beat: new technology arriving quickly, prices and taxes shifting the market, and buyers needing tested guidance through both. Auto Today's combination of daily digital news and monthly tested features is designed for exactly that environment.
Role among Indian automobile magazines
India has a strong field of automobile magazines, and Auto Today's distinction within it is its parentage and its testing emphasis. As the India Today Group's title, it carries the resources and reach of a large media group into a specialist field often served by smaller publishers, and its stated commitment to detailed comparison testing gives it a clear editorial promise: verdicts a buyer can act on.
It also benefits from being a genuinely combined car and motorcycle title. In India, where two-wheelers vastly outnumber cars and many households own both, a magazine whose Rides section is as substantial as its Drives section reflects the market as it actually is, rather than as a car-only market on the European model.
How to read and subscribe
Auto Today is available on newsstands across India as a monthly print magazine and by subscription directly through the India Today Group's subscription service, which offers the title for delivery through the publisher. Digital reading is available through the group's platforms and through the magazine's website, autotodayindia.com, which is free to read and updated daily with news, launch information and reviews.
For most readers, the practical way to follow the title is in combination: the website for launch news and first impressions as they happen, and the monthly magazine for the full first drives, comparison tests, road trips and long-term fleet verdicts in print. Either way, the reader reaches the same editorial team in Noida, testing India's cars and motorcycles, and reporting, in English, for the world's most varied automobile market.
