READ THE COLUMNNoise, Vibration & Harshness: The Not-So-Sweet Smell Of Success
In Chattanooga to test drive Volkswagen’s new Passat, a New York writer for a national auto magazine has taken the city’s downtown to task for what he called “the most incredible stench.”
In a column in the September 2011 issue, Jamie Kitman, Automobile Magazine’s New York bureau chief, said the smell that at times hits downtown “makes recommending the city as a vacation destination — or as a place to locate your heavy industry — problematic.”
“One thing’s certain: it’s definitely not time for VW to launch its factory-delivery program here,” wrote Kitman, an award-winning journalist who was in Chattanooga recently with other auto writers to critique the Passat.
Kitman won the 2009 National Magazine Award in the columns and commentary category. It is one of the country’s most prestigious journalism competitions for magazines. Kitman’s award, sponsored by the National Society of Magazine Editors, is believed to be the first of its kind won by an automotive magazine.