The final print edition of Auto Trader will be published in June, nearly four decades after the motoring weekly first hit the streets of London.

Its owner, Trader Media Group, confirmed on Tuesday that the flagship title will exist online only following a souvenir edition next month featuring classic cars from the past 36 years.

Another four titles owned by Trader Media Group – Top Marques, Truck and Plant, Van Trader and Farm Trader – will also close their print editions as part of the move to digital.

Once considered as the go to guide for second hand car buyers or sellers, sales of Auto Trader have plummeted from a peak of 368,000 in January 2000 to 27,000 last month.

Classified advertising has followed readers online, with visits to the Auto Trader website soaring to more than 11 million readers a month.

The final print issue of Auto Trader will be published on 28 June and – in a nod to the digital future – will also be available as a limited multimedia edition, featuring a video on its front cover.

Zillah Byng Maddick, the interim chief executive of Trader Media Group, said in a statement: “Trader Media Group’s magazines have played a key role in the group’s 36-year heritage and we are very proud of the market position our brands have achieved during that period.

“With a marked shift by consumers and dealers to online platforms as a means of accessing information and buying and selling vehicles, we continue to innovate to ensure that we offer them the products and services they require through their channels of choice.”

The move means 150 job losses across the five titles, Trader Media Group confirmed, following a consultation period with staff earlier this year.

The first incarnation of Auto Trader launched in 1977, as businessmen John Madejski and Paul Gibbons formed Hurst Publishing and printed the Thames Valley Trader.

Editions covering regions across the UK and Ireland were introduced over the next two decades – with the website going live in 1996, the same year the print edition expanded to Italy and South Africa.

Like the vehicles it features, the ownership of Auto Trader has changed hands over the decades. Trader Media Group is currently jointly owned by the private equity firm Apax Partners and Guardian Media Group (GMG), the publisher of the Guardian and Observer newspapers (and MediaGuardian), following a merger between GMG and its former owner BC Partners in 2000.

In January this year, Guardian Media Group called off talks to sell its 50.3% holding in the company to Apax in a deal that would value Trader Media Group at about £1.2bn, including net debt of £600m. Bankers estimated its value at £2bn.

Taken from the Gaurdian