The end of an era as Haynes stops printing
THE publisher of the famous Haynes car manuals says it will no longer produce new editions.
More than 200 million of the self- help books were sold before the publisher was bought out earlier this year by a French company.
The new owners say they do not see a future in printing new versions of the much- loved guides and have made eight editorial staff redundant.
Haynes Manuals were launched by the late John Haynes in 1965 in Yeovil, Somerset.
They specialised in n providing car owners with advice on mainteenance and repairs s they could carry out on their driveways.
The books have given tutorials for more than 300 models of car and 130 motorcycle e models, and have ve been translated into nto 24 languages.
But with modern ern cars becoming more hi- tech there been a downturn in demand.
Haynes went on the publish popular novelty manuals on Spitfires, a German Tiger Tank, the Star Wars Millennium Falcon and even a special Wallace and Gromit edition.
Mr Haynes died last year and the company was bought by French rival Infopro Digital for £ 114.5million in April.
Contributing authors for Haynes Publishing were told via email the new owners have decided to move away from print products to a “digital
has and data- driven operation”. The news was greeted with sadness among fans of the titles. Simon Jakubowski said: “This is terrible news. I seriously feel for those who’ve made Haynes what it is.” Robin Trewinnard- Boyle said: “That’s awful, what a disaster for such a loved and respected brand. Absolutely gutted.”
Paul Bardell added: “This is terrible news on several levels. Seems quite a short short- sighted decision. Will miss this excellent series.” Hay Haynes Group said it will carry on publishing their back catalo logue of car and motorcycle books but it “has to restructure to a accommodate the n new processes”. It ho hopes to offer new rol roles to staff affe affected.
Hay Haynes added: “In addition addition, the business is currently in the process of creating an exciting and comprehensive new automotive maintenance and repair product that will cover around 95 per cent of car makes and models – an increase of around 40 per cent over its current workshop manual coverage.
“This will provide consumers with more choice than ever before. More details will be provided in due course.”
The company has confirmed that the Haynes International Motoring Museum in Somerset will not be affected by the changes.