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Welcome to the Total Car Score podcast, bringing you the world of cars from inside the car.
01:44
And now your hosts, Carl Brower, Lauren Ficks, and Javier Mota.
01:53
Well, today we're not sitting in a car, we're sitting at the airport at the Brezny in Hungary.
01:58
And we have a very special guest for several reasons.
02:01
One, I always try to learn from people who know much more than me, and this is the case with our guest.
02:07
Two, we're near your hometown, or your home country.
02:12
Nearby and more importantly, we celebrate your birthday here in this trip.
02:16
So Horatio, how are you?
02:18
Thanks for having me, Javier.
02:19
Always good seeing you.
02:20
Honestly, I feel like I'm learning from you too, because you always have this cool equipment,
02:24
shooting stuff, you know, and I'm always watching you what you do, you know, so I think it was both ways.
02:29
But in your case, I mean, you publish the BMW blog.
02:32
And as you are, even though you don't want to take credit for it,
02:36
you're a big celebrity in the BMW world community, right?
02:40
I mean, like, I've been saying it, everybody comes to say hello to you, even the BMW executive.
02:46
So, Horatio, how are you?
02:48
So you are a big deal in the BMW world.
02:51
I don't know if I call it a big deal, but I've been doing this for like 16 years, honestly, you know, 16 years.
02:55
And I've got to know a lot of people, a lot of people kind of went up the ranks just like me.
03:00
So we started, you know, like lower level and then we kind of learned, you know, this industry.
03:03
And I've always been more like behind the scenes.
03:06
Honestly, it's always more about the team.
03:08
I know it's such a cliche, but it's always more about the team, not about me.
03:11
But recently, what I realized was the last few years that people actually want to associate a public issue with that face.
03:16
And I became more of the face of that, you know, and, you know, because of that people might recognize me, you know.
03:22
So tell me how all these started?
03:24
I mean, if we want to go back to Europe.
03:27
My God, let's go back to the US because you're from Romania.
03:31
Move to the US when I was 18, 19 there.
03:34
I wanted to go to school here.
03:35
Basically, I was fortunate enough to win the green car lottery, which was amazing.
03:39
You know, that made my life easy.
03:41
Moved here, went to school, actually started engineering.
03:44
So I did computer science out of all things in Chicago.
03:47
No, I did computer science.
03:48
I've always been studying mathematics and computer science.
03:53
I went to a specialized high school to back in Romania.
03:56
Actually, the same high school right now where the president of Romania graduated from.
03:59
So that's always a nice one to connect to.
04:01
They moved here, you know, went to school here, worked in different engineering jobs.
04:05
I did a consulting team for Ernst and Youngers for like six years and I learned quite a bit there.
04:11
Then at the same time, I decided to pursue my passion, you know, for like online things basically.
04:16
And I actually fell in love with the brand.
04:17
The story is actually a bit different.
04:18
I fell in love with the BMW brand.
04:20
One, because I had an E30, you know, I was sharing with my girlfriend like at the time.
04:25
And then I wanted to buy my first BMW.
04:27
I started to do research.
04:28
It was early 2000s and there were no online blogs back then.
04:32
No social media, no YouTube, nothing.
04:34
And I wanted to do a European delivery and go to Munich actually to pick up my car.
04:38
So I went to Munich first and I absolutely fell in love with the brand then just by going to Munich,
04:42
picking up your own car, driving like around Europe for like a month,
04:45
seeing Europe with your own car, breaking in the car with that,
04:47
and she'd be back to the US, the wait, you know, and all of it, everything that comes with that process.
04:51
What were you publishing back then?
04:53
I was like, I was not.
04:54
I was really just researching.
04:56
And then when I came back, I realized that there is no like no one talking about the European delivery either.
05:01
So I started to just publish, you know, the European delivery stuff initially.
05:04
And then I did a second one and I fell in love even more with the brand.
05:07
Then I started to say, OK, well, there is no online blog for a magazine or like for a brand back then.
05:13
Basically, they were like more like general things.
05:15
And I decided to do just a just a blog basically for the BMW brand.
05:18
And I went from there to news and reviews and then social media and YouTube.
05:23
And it's been a journey and here we are.
05:24
And we're still learning today, honestly.
05:26
I mean, it's not like this is.
05:28
Yeah. So I mean, like the the world blog itself is kind of out of fashion now.
05:33
But the names stuck with the people now.
05:37
And you have a big following.
05:38
And so tell me what's what's the process?
05:41
What are what do you see when you come to all these events?
05:43
I see you all over the place.
05:45
Yes, I mean, honestly, like if you look 16, 17 years ago, the world blog was very hot.
05:49
So actually, people didn't know what it was initially.
05:51
Same thing with BMW that it took a while.
05:53
Now, of course, it's not very commonly used anymore, basically.
05:56
But coming to these events really, I mean, it's been a journey also,
05:59
because you have to understand that 16, 17 years ago, people like us,
06:02
we didn't have a platform to promote ourselves basically, right?
06:05
So you would have to I would I would go to auto shows all over the world,
06:07
spending my own money basically to create content, hoping that somebody will
06:11
notice that today you have social media, you put a photo up.
06:14
You can get two million views instantly, basically or millions.
06:17
And then you kind of become famous and then you get invites.
06:20
But for us to be recognized as journalists, because we're journalists.
06:22
Yeah. First and foremost, it was a lot tougher.
06:24
Now it's easier because now you'll be more access.
06:25
But still, we never rest on our laurels with constantly improving and doing things.
06:30
Exactly. But it's not easy. I mean, it's not hard.
06:33
I mean, like you traveling is it's hard. It's really cool.
06:36
But still it takes a lot of effort and all that.
06:38
Some people ask me, what's the best tip that you can give me
06:42
where to do start a blog or a YouTube channel to like charge your batteries.
06:46
Because if you don't charge your batteries, both for your equipment
06:49
and for yourself the day before, you like waste it.
06:52
I mean, we're sitting here with our equipment.
06:53
Our bags are full of equipment, basically all of that.
06:56
But honestly, like people see only the social media.
06:59
Yeah, they see the social media posts and they'll see these cool places,
07:03
hotels and all that. It's not that really behind the scenes.
07:05
Like these past few days, we were on a five, six hour schedule of sleeping.
07:09
I know. While doing a lot of things all day long.
07:11
So let's talk about these three in particular because we came for the view of the IX3,
07:17
the first of 40 models on the newer class and platform.
07:22
So it's a big moment for BMW and where are people saying on your blog about this?
07:26
Yes, it's a big moment.
07:28
It's a transformative moment for the company, I would say,
07:31
because something like this hasn't happened for them in decades.
07:34
People on our platforms are equally excited but equally afraid
07:37
because they all think that BMW is going to go all on EVs and are going to be all EVs
07:41
and they try to put things in context.
07:44
Like no, if you want to buy an iScar, you should be able to buy a BMW iScar
07:47
for the next 10, 15 years at least or even more.
07:50
Don't worry about this, but people like me, for example, because I have a family also,
07:54
I enjoy having an electric BMW every day as a daily driver,
07:57
but at the same time, I always can have an iScar that I want to have fun with, right?
08:02
So of course, we're privileged in the US because we sometimes have two, three cars,
08:06
but even if it was like my single car with a family,
08:08
I would definitely pick an electric SUV because I use it 90% of the time
08:12
for the family stuff versus going to have fun.
08:15
So I think the sentiment has been like, you know, what's going to happen.
08:18
But I think from what we've seen and from a technology perspective,
08:21
I think people are impressed with what they saw on this new iClass
08:24
for charging, to range and all of that.
08:26
I feel like they've addressed the most important things when it comes to EVs.
08:29
Of course, design, everybody keeps complaining about that.
08:32
That's fine because it's subjective.
08:33
People love to complain on that.
08:35
I mean, I'm sure you see all the comments and probably like therapy.
08:39
You stop reading them because you cannot satisfy everybody, right?
08:43
But let me ask you something.
08:44
Now I'm going to turn the table a little bit.
08:46
What about your audience?
08:47
Because you also cover an audience that maybe I don't interact with too much,
08:50
like the Hispanic audience, the Latino.
08:53
What's their reaction to electric cars?
08:55
I think it's the same.
08:56
I think people are afraid.
08:58
And I always tell people about like, if you're going to get into an EV car,
09:01
you have to learn to live with it.
09:03
And like, don't expect to be the same.
09:05
It's going to be a different mindset, especially and more planning probably.
09:09
But at the end, if you think about it, I mean, when you're in an ICE car
09:12
and you're not, you can't run out of gas too.
09:14
If you don't plan for it.
09:15
You have to plan a little bit more.
09:17
But now the technology is so advanced.
09:19
I mean, I was just in Chile and I drove a Chinese car up the mountain to a ski resort
09:23
and the reading was 100% battery, 420 kilometers, 450 kilometer distance.
09:31
But we arrived with 19% and 80 kilometers.
09:36
Because we were going up into the cold.
09:38
So you have to learn and to read those kind of things.
09:41
And you're not going to learn that just by reading or like watching video.
09:44
You have to experience it.
09:46
So that's the best thing.
09:47
And the best thing I can say to people, experience it.
09:50
If you're really considering going from gas to electric, you have to experience it.
09:56
And again, like you said, the day-to-day thing is perfect.
10:02
And then, like, if you're on long trips, you can plan it.
10:04
I mean, like, you can rent a car.
10:06
I always tell people, you can rent a car.
10:08
Let's see what you're doing.
10:09
Because most of the 10 people in the US, especially, they don't do a lot of long road trips.
10:13
And Germany is going to come.
10:14
And then, if you need one or twice a year, just rent a nice big truck.
10:18
And I think at the very beginning, some manufacturers, I don't remember if BMW was doing it,
10:22
but they will, like, give you a car and then they will say,
10:24
OK, we can loan you a car for a weekend or something.
10:27
I think it was, yeah, I think it was something like that initially.
10:28
They did a lease program at the very beginning when people were still very afraid of that.
10:32
You're right, the dealers were doing that.
10:33
I remember with the i3, actually.
10:36
The i3, actually, going back to that, I mean, BMW is not new to this.
10:41
I mean, they told us on this trip.
10:44
They've been developing the batteries for 20 years and even more.
10:47
The hydrogen car, the iX5, which is a fantastic technology.
10:52
The infrastructure for that is even more complicated than electricity.
10:56
But it makes a lot more sense.
10:58
And BMW is still pushing on that side, right?
11:00
And people don't realize, I was actually some sort of a trend center
11:03
when it comes to the i3.
11:05
I've had four i3s since 2011 when it came out.
11:08
So I've got a new one every two, three years.
11:11
So to me, the EV journey started even before now, like literally 14 years ago.
11:15
And I've seen the transition from having an i3 with like 60 miles of range
11:21
to like 90 to like 100 and something.
11:23
And now having 400 miles to me is like, oh my God, this is like unlimited miles, basically, you know?
11:28
And people will still be some worry because, again, they don't experience that they have to live with it.
11:33
You have to live with it.
11:33
You have to learn, you know, how to do the efficiency thing.
11:36
You have to learn what you can charge, how you can charge, how fast and all of that.
11:39
But I think once you learn that, you want to drive an EV as a daily driver
11:42
because it's so easy to drive as a daily driver.
11:44
It's comfortable, you know, it's silent and it's nice.
11:46
And especially like in cities where you need to like overtake quick and stop and go, it's perfect, you know?
11:50
And we've seen here in, well, we're in Hungary now, but in Munich, I saw a lot of light.
11:55
Charging stations, yeah.
11:56
Charging stations on the road.
11:57
So it's expanding, it's getting more accessible for everybody.
12:01
But the key would you say will be a charging station at home, right?
12:04
If you have the privilege of coming back.
12:07
I mean, if you live in a major city like Chicago, New York, it's always tougher, you know?
12:10
But even now if like newer buildings, they all come with charging stations.
12:14
But I always tell people, if you have like a house, it's less than a thousand dollars investment to get a charging station.
12:19
You never go to the gas station.
12:21
You never go and you have this piece of mind.
12:22
Now people are doing solar panels too.
12:25
So now put a solar panel at a house is free basically at that point, you know?
12:28
So stuff like that.
12:29
But I think it's interesting what we're seeing, you know, and how things are developing.
12:32
But for brands, they're very emotional like Porsche, BMW and all these brands.
12:35
The Mercedes, it's a huge change for the community, you know?
12:38
And for the enthusiast.
12:40
I mean, I think we are the M brand.
12:42
The Mercedes and BMW are very worried about it.
12:45
But anyway, we're about to take the BMW plane.
12:52
Well, thanks for having me.
12:54
It's always good seeing you.
12:55
And thanks for a...
12:59
Again, just like everywhere BMW blog, right?
13:01
All the social media.
13:02
All social media, all the same.
13:03
Yeah, all the same.
13:04
So I appreciate it.
13:05
And we'll see you next time.
13:07
The plane is leaving.
13:09
That's a wrap for this episode of the Total Car Score podcast.
13:13
Want more expert takes on the hottest cars, industry trends and insider insights?
13:18
Join Javier Mota, Lauren Fix and Carl Brower every week for the ultimate auto talk.
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Hit subscribe, like and share with your friends to stay informed and stay ahead.
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