Car Magazines Will Have Same Publisher

The company that publishes Car and Driver and Road & Track said Thursday that both magazines will now have one publisher but denied the move is a step toward combining the publications, as it recently did the nation’s two largest motorcycling magazines.

Hachette Magazines Inc., the U.S. unit of a giant French media concern, said Car and Driver publisher Donald M. Hufford will also hold that position at Road & Track. Car and Driver, with a circulation of 1 million, is published from Ann Arbor, Mich.; Road & Track, with 725,000 circulation, is published from Newport Beach. Hachette said the editorial and publishing staffs of both magazines will remain separate. Richard Bartkus, publisher of Road & Track, retired.

The company has also recently appointed a single publisher for several other pairs of magazines it publishes: Popular Photography and American Photo; Stereo Review and Audio; and Elle Decor and Home.