Former Top Gear hosts are developing DriveTribe, a one-stop shop for motoring enthusiasts

[Shawn Knight]

Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are hard at work filming a new motoring show for Amazon. The program, which doesn’t yet have a name, isn’t the only project the trio is working on.

Along with Andy Wilman, the Top Gear producer that left the series to work with Clarkson, Hammond and May at Amazon, they've been quietly working on a project called DriveTribe since December.

The idea behind DriveTribe is to create a one-stop shop for automotive enthusiasts. Company representatives recently told The Verge that they envision DriveTribe being what Twitch is for video games or what TripAdvisor is to those who travel. Or in other words, they want to become the single, massive online destination for motoring enthusiasts.

DriveTribe is initially being funded by Clarkson, Hammond, May and Wilman through a Series A round. Funding amounts weren’t disclosed although CEO Ernesto Schmitt told the publication that it was on par with what you’d expect from a typical Series A (likely in the millions of dollars).

The format of the community will mirror the destination’s overall theme, offering up “tribes” that’ll be led by individual content creators. Each of the three presenters will have their own tribe but you can also expect several additional tribes to emerge.

Tribes sound a lot like today’s individual enthusiast sites. For example, there will almost certainly be tribes for Camaro fans as well as those who prefer Mustangs. Other potential tribes could include those for turbo, supercharger and naturally aspirated enthusiasts. Jeep lovers could have their own tribe, as could individuals that prefer Italian exotics. The possibilities truly are limitless.

(DriveTribe is in no way connected to the upcoming Amazon show)

Trying to bring together so many niche factions seems like an impossibly daunting task (there’s a reason it hasn’t happened yet) but if anyone can do it, it’s the former Top Gear crew – a trio that’s admired by motoring enthusiasts from all walks of life.

The Verge says DriveTribe already has around 20 employees with plans to expand to around 60 by the end of the year, many of which are working to build the site’s backend. In addition to the three presenters, DriveTribe aims to hire up to 30 full-time staffers. Also key to its success will be its ability to attract bloggers, writers and videographers which DriveTribe would like to have create content for their service rather than Facebook or YouTube.

DriveTribe is expected to launch this fall.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/64573-former-top-gear-hosts-developing-drivetribe-one-stop.html

 

[Adhmuz]

Whatever they do end up calling it I'm sure to watch it, Top Gear was the single best automotive show, nothing comes close to it and until this comes out nothing else will, not even the relaunch with Matt Leblanc will have the same feel and charisma these three had going for all those years and yet always kept things fresh. The tribes thing I'm not so sure will be a great idea, I feel that will lead to a lot of cross hate between the tribes because that's how it already is between most car enthusiast, Mustang guys hate Camaro guys and Vice-Versa, all European car fans hate most things American, you can see where this is going... So maybe not the best to have them all on one site "sharing" their opinions about each other, we all know how people don't have the ability to sensor themselves when presented with the anonymity of the internet.

 

[Uncle Al]

I love the show, but alas, there are so very, very few young people that are into it any longer ... just us old fogies that recall spending one too many weekends tinkering away .....

 

[VitalyT]

These dudes are older than they look, and they are all filthy rich. The deal with Amazon was for 160 million pounds. They are trying new things now, recognizing that the Amazon show will never grow to the glory of the Top Gear. They screwed it up but good, or, more precisely, Clarkson did.

For some things there is just no going back.

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

Looks interesting... I know it will never be the Top Gear we all know and love, but with those three and the producer, I imagine it should be quite entertaining. This could very well start a new cult following. It could also flop... depending on how it is marketed and made available for the car enthusiast community. Amazon has a habit of shooting themselves in the foot with some things. I for one think if they make this an Amazon Prime exclusive it will most certainly fail. This needs to be available to the masses at a reasonable cost to even give it a chance.

We'll see...

 

[SirGCal]

I love all cars. Jeeps to Ferrari's. I'll watch.