About Auto Bild

Auto Bild

Auto Bild is Germany's leading weekly car magazine, published every Thursday by the Axel Springer Auto-Verlag in Hamburg. First published on 24 February 1986, it revolutionised German automotive journalism with its reader-advocate positioning, its comparative testing and its tabloid accessibility — and grew into a global brand with licensed editions in some 34 countries. Each weekly issue carries new-car news, tests and comparison tests, used-car advice, motorsport coverage and the service journalism that has made the magazine the car buyer's trusted companion. Its website, autobild.de, is among the most-visited automotive websites in the German language.

Overview

Auto Bild appears weekly on Thursdays and addresses the car-interested reader in the broadest sense: the new-car buyer, the used-car buyer, the enthusiast and the merely curious. The magazine's formula combines the news values of a weekly — the new models, the spy shots, the industry stories — with the service depth of a buyer's guide: comparison tests across every segment, long-term tests, used-car buying guides, price analyses and the celebrated "Kummerkasten" (complaints box) in which the magazine takes up readers' problems with manufacturers and dealers.

The reader-advocate positioning — the magazine presents itself as the "Anwalt" (advocate) of its readers and their competent partner — distinguishes Auto Bild from the more industry-oriented automotive press. The tone is direct, critical and independent: manufacturers' claims are tested against measurement, and the magazine has never hesitated to criticise powerful industry players on behalf of its readers.

History

Auto Bild was launched on 24 February 1986 by the Axel Springer publishing house, at an introductory price of 30 Pfennig, as a weekly car magazine in the Bild tradition: accessible, visually strong and unapologetically reader-oriented. The German car-magazine market of the mid-1980s was dominated by the fortnightly auto motor und sport and the specialist titles; Auto Bild's weekly rhythm, comparative testing and consumer-advocate stance created a new category — the car magazine as buyer's champion — and the title grew rapidly into the market leader.

The 1990s and 2000s brought international expansion on a remarkable scale: licensed editions of Auto Bild appeared in more than 30 countries, from Auto Bild Suomi in Finland to Auto Świat in Poland, Auto Plus in France (as a cooperation) and editions across Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America — making the brand one of the most internationalised magazine concepts to originate in Germany. At home, the title family grew with spin-offs: Auto Bild Allrad for SUVs and 4x4s, Auto Bild Sportscars for performance cars, Auto Bild Klassik for classic cars, Auto Bild Motorsport and Auto Test.

The editor-in-chief is Robin Hornig, who took over in February 2023, succeeding Tom Drechsler (2017–2023), Bernd Wieland (2006–2017), Peter Felske (1988–2006) and the founding editors. The magazine is published by the Axel Springer Auto-Verlag GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Axel Springer SE based in Hamburg.

Content

The Thursday issue leads with the week's car news: new-model unveilings, spy photography of prototypes, industry developments and the stories moving the automotive world — increasingly dominated by electrification, software-defined vehicles and the transformation of the German car industry. Tests follow: individual new-car tests with measurements, and the comparison tests — two, three or more rivals measured against each other across dozens of criteria — that are the magazine's signature and the German car buyer's decision aid.

Used cars are a pillar: buying guides for the popular used models, price analyses, reliability data and the long-term tests that document ownership reality. Motorsport coverage follows Formula 1 and the German racing scene; service journalism covers insurance, finance, traffic law and workshop advice. The Kummerkasten — readers' complaints taken up with manufacturers — embodies the advocate positioning and generates some of the magazine's most-read pages.

The annual "Das Goldene Lenkrad" (The Golden Steering Wheel), awarded with Bild am Sonntag, is one of the most prestigious car awards in Europe, and the magazine's reader votes and campaigns engage the audience beyond the weekly issue. Decided by reader votes alongside an expert jury's test drives, the Goldene Lenkrad connects the magazine's readership directly with the industry's product planning: manufacturers campaign for it, winners advertise it, and the ceremony — covered across German media — is the car industry's night of nights.

Coverage & Audience

Auto Bild is sold throughout Germany at newsstands and by subscription, appearing weekly on Thursdays, with sold circulation reported at 108,334 copies in the second quarter of 2026, and autobild.de serves millions of users with daily car news, tests, videos and the new-and-used-car marketplace. The readership is the broad car-interested public: buyers and dreamers, commuters and enthusiasts, united by the magazine's accessible expertise.

The brand's international licensing — editions in 34 countries at the peak — extended its influence far beyond Germany, and the licensed titles adapted the Auto Bild formula to their national markets. At home, the magazine's tests are cited across German media, its awards covered as industry news, and its consumer advocacy recognised as a genuine force in the manufacturer-customer relationship.

Ownership

Auto Bild is published by the Axel Springer Auto-Verlag GmbH (formerly AS Auto Verlag GmbH), the special-interest car-publishing subsidiary of Axel Springer SE, based in Hamburg. Axel Springer SE — headquartered in Berlin, one of Europe's largest media groups — owns the publisher outright. The Auto-Verlag's portfolio centres on the Auto Bild title family: the weekly Auto Bild, the monthly Auto Bild Allrad, Auto Bild Sportscars, Auto Bild Klassik and Auto Test, alongside the digital businesses grouped around autobild.de.

Within the Axel Springer group, the car titles benefit from the group's journalistic infrastructure, photography resources and digital publishing technology, while maintaining the editorial independence on which the reader-advocate positioning depends.

Digital Presence

autobild.de is one of the most-visited automotive websites in the German language: daily new-car news, test content with data, videos, the new- and used-car marketplace, configurators and buying guides. The site serves the car buyer's complete journey — from the first research to the price comparison to the dealer contact — and its marketplace businesses make it a transactional as well as a journalistic platform.

The Auto Bild app, social media channels and video formats extend the brand to the smartphone generation of car buyers, with short-form video particularly effective for the new-model reveal. The weekly print magazine remains the flagship for the definitive comparison test and the investigative consumer story; the digital platforms provide the daily news rhythm, the marketplace and the community. Four decades after the 30-Pfennig first issue, Auto Bild remains the car buyer's weekly.

The international licensing network is the brand's global dimension: some 34 licensed editions carry the Auto Bild concept to car markets around the world, making it one of the most exported German magazine brands. The Thursday publication rhythm structures the German car week: the industry's news as it happens, the tests as they are completed, the buying advice for the weekend's dealership visits. The autobild.de portal extends the brand into the digital car-buying journey: the new-car news, the test database, the configurators and the price information serving the research that now precedes every purchase. The magazine's market position — the accessible, high-circulation car weekly against the enthusiast fortnightly — has been stable for decades: Auto Bild for the broad car-buying public, auto motor und sport for the enthusiast, the two titles dividing the German car-magazine market between them. The editorial leadership under Robin Hornig, editor-in-chief since 2023, continues the brand's tradition: the reader's advocate, the independent tester, the plain speaker. In the German automotive press, Auto Bild remains the people's car magazine — the weekly that tells the driver what to buy, in language the driver understands.