Speedhunters: Is the global car culture website going away for good?

The sun looks to be setting on the car culture website that highlighted the global automotive scene and inspired a generation of car enthusiasts.

If you haven’t noticed, the Speedhunters website has been dormant since April. While that alone wouldn’t really be much of a concern, the thing is even the store where you can buy Speedhunters merchandise has also been taken down. Likewise, there are no new activities for its official Instagram account since March, which has an all-black profile photo.

Speedhunters was originally created by Rod Chong in 2008 with backing from Electronic Arts to support the Need For Speed game franchise. But since then, it became a place for featuring original car content and photography from the likes of Larry Chen, Dino Dalle Carbonare, and many more shooters and writers.

With the NFS franchise currently on hiatus, it looks like EA has also pulled the plug on funding Speedhunters and its team of independent photographers, writers, and drivers.

The diversity of car culture highlighted on the website was influential in shaping the automotive scene we see today, especially with how cars are being modified, the emergence of exclusive invite-only car meets, and the art of creating automotive content through videos and photos.

But just like the Import Tuner magazines and online forums of yesteryears, it does look like it’s the end of the road for Speedhunters. A new one will eventually emerge for sure, but not without paying tribute to what shaped the era of car culture we enjoy today.