The End of The Grand Tour & The Future of Motoring Journalism


As we all know, The Grand Tour as we know it is over. Jeremy, James & Richard have officially parted ways after over 20 years working together, racing, shouting and laughing together. My social media feeds have been full of tributes and memes to the trio and it’s weird knowing that no more content with them is going to be made, it’s like when a comedian announces retirement, we just have to watch the old stuff I suppose.

Now this isn’t a review of One for the Road, all I will say is Funeral for a Ford (the finale of Series 3) was the ideal finale and send off because the episode wasn’t just a tribute and send off for Fords iconic saloon car but a send off for the trio themselves. Consider how the story of the Mondeo and the trio intersect, it starts with the Cortina and the presenters first falling in love with cars and ends with the axing of the Mondeo and the supposed end of the trios work together. It wasn’t just a funeral for Ford, it was a funeral for them too. But of course, we got 5 years of fairly sub bar specials (bar Euro Crash which was genuinely funny and interesting) so it wasn’t really the end until now.

But that leaves the question, what’s next for motoring journalism on TV? The Grand Tour and prior Top Gear brought casual motoring journalism and road testing to the masses, though to be fair since series 7 Top Gear hasn’t really done much for promoting cars and has more been providing entertainment. The deeper question is, considering The Grand Tour will continue with new presenters, is there a way to progress beyond the formula established by Clarkson and co? As most motoring shows and YouTube channels focus on restoration and retrospectives now as opposed to what Top Gear, The Grand Tour and Fifth Gear have done.

As you know, I’m generally very positive about the future of cars and wider motoring, so I think that we should give young and enthusiastic wannabe presenters a chance as if we don’t give people a chance then motoring TV shows and wider journalism kind of dies with them. Motoring journalism is kind of an old white guy’s game, so I feel we need to move on from the style made popular by Jeremy, James & Richard and be open to change and new styles of presenting. Then who knows, maybe a new format of long running motoring show can be born. The Grand Tour proved that you can still get millions of viewers to watch your show if you are entertaining and interesting to watch.

What’s more I think in the age of misinformation and bad faith arguments there should be a show fronted by independent motoring journalists/presenters who can tell you the truth on things like EV’s and new fuel types for example.

So, does the end of Jeremy, James & Richards time on The Grand Tour spell the end of TV motoring shows? I doubt it. There’s a place of motoring shows on TV and streaming services, we just need to think of new ideas on how to present and review cars that don’t follow the Jeremy style of reviewing cars through tortured metaphors and endless Ofcom complaints. And I know this is possible as YouTube channels like Harry’s Garage & JayEmm on Cars have amassed millions of views doing a more sensible and sophisticated form of road testing and discussing important motoring topics. So, hold out hope fellow TV motoring show fans, give the next Grand Tour a chance (as it is continuing in the near future) because this new version could be hosting the new long-running faces of TV motoring shows.

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