S6E52 – Who is the brain and talent behind BMWBlog?

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Welcome to the Total Car Score podcast, bringing you the world of cars from inside the car.

And now your hosts, Carl Brower, Lauren Ficks, and Javier Mota.

Well, today we're not sitting in a car, we're sitting at the airport at the Brezny in Hungary.

And we have a very special guest for several reasons.

One, I always try to learn from people who know much more than me, and this is the case with our guest.

Two, we're near your hometown, or your home country.

Nearby and more importantly, we celebrate your birthday here in this trip.

So Horatio, how are you?

Good, good.

Thanks for having me, Javier.

Always good seeing you.

Honestly, I feel like I'm learning from you too, because you always have this cool equipment,

shooting stuff, you know, and I'm always watching you what you do, you know, so I think it was both ways.

Exactly.

But in your case, I mean, you publish the BMW blog.

And as you are, even though you don't want to take credit for it,

you're a big celebrity in the BMW world community, right?

I mean, like, I've been saying it, everybody comes to say hello to you, even the BMW executive.

So, Horatio, how are you?

So you are a big deal in the BMW world.

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.

And I've got to know a lot of people, a lot of people kind of went up the ranks just like me.

So we started, you know, like lower level and then we kind of learned, you know, this industry.

And I've always been more like behind the scenes.

Honestly, it's always more about the team.

I know it's such a cliche, but it's always more about the team, not about me.

But recently, what I realized was the last few years that people actually want to associate a public issue with that face.

And I became more of the face of that, you know, and, you know, because of that people might recognize me, you know.

So tell me how all these started?

I mean, if we want to go back to Europe.

My God, let's go back to the US because you're from Romania.

Move to the US when I was 18, 19 there.

I wanted to go to school here.

Basically, I was fortunate enough to win the green car lottery, which was amazing.

You know, that made my life easy.

Moved here, went to school, actually started engineering.

So I did computer science out of all things in Chicago.

No, I did computer science.

I've always been studying mathematics and computer science.

I went to a specialized high school to back in Romania.

Actually, the same high school right now where the president of Romania graduated from.

So that's always a nice one to connect to.

They moved here, you know, went to school here, worked in different engineering jobs.

I did a consulting team for Ernst and Youngers for like six years and I learned quite a bit there.

Then at the same time, I decided to pursue my passion, you know, for like online things basically.

And I actually fell in love with the brand.

The story is actually a bit different.

I fell in love with the BMW brand.

One, because I had an E30, you know, I was sharing with my girlfriend like at the time.

And then I wanted to buy my first BMW.

I started to do research.

It was early 2000s and there were no online blogs back then.

No social media, no YouTube, nothing.

And I wanted to do a European delivery and go to Munich actually to pick up my car.

So I went to Munich first and I absolutely fell in love with the brand then just by going to Munich,

picking up your own car, driving like around Europe for like a month,

seeing Europe with your own car, breaking in the car with that,

and she'd be back to the US, the wait, you know, and all of it, everything that comes with that process.

What were you publishing back then?

I was like, I was not.

I was really just researching.

And then when I came back, I realized that there is no like no one talking about the European delivery either.

So I started to just publish, you know, the European delivery stuff initially.

And then I did a second one and I fell in love even more with the brand.

Then I started to say, OK, well, there is no online blog for a magazine or like for a brand back then.

Basically, they were like more like general things.

And I decided to do just a just a blog basically for the BMW brand.

And I went from there to news and reviews and then social media and YouTube.

And it's been a journey and here we are.

And we're still learning today, honestly.

I mean, it's not like this is.

Yeah. So I mean, like the the world blog itself is kind of out of fashion now.

But the names stuck with the people now.

Exactly.

And you have a big following.

And so tell me what's what's the process?

What are what do you see when you come to all these events?

I see you all over the place.

Yes, I mean, honestly, like if you look 16, 17 years ago, the world blog was very hot.

So actually, people didn't know what it was initially.

Same thing with BMW that it took a while.

Now, of course, it's not very commonly used anymore, basically.

But coming to these events really, I mean, it's been a journey also,

because you have to understand that 16, 17 years ago, people like us,

we didn't have a platform to promote ourselves basically, right?

So you would have to I would I would go to auto shows all over the world,

spending my own money basically to create content, hoping that somebody will

notice that today you have social media, you put a photo up.

You can get two million views instantly, basically or millions.

And then you kind of become famous and then you get invites.

But for us to be recognized as journalists, because we're journalists.

Yeah. First and foremost, it was a lot tougher.

Now it's easier because now you'll be more access.

But still, we never rest on our laurels with constantly improving and doing things.

Exactly. But it's not easy. I mean, it's not hard.

I mean, like you traveling is it's hard. It's really cool.

But still it takes a lot of effort and all that.

Some people ask me, what's the best tip that you can give me

where to do start a blog or a YouTube channel to like charge your batteries.

Because if you don't charge your batteries, both for your equipment

and for yourself the day before, you like waste it.

I mean, we're sitting here with our equipment.

Our bags are full of equipment, basically all of that.

But honestly, like people see only the social media.

Yeah, they see the social media posts and they'll see these cool places,

hotels and all that. It's not that really behind the scenes.

Like these past few days, we were on a five, six hour schedule of sleeping.

I know. While doing a lot of things all day long.

So let's talk about these three in particular because we came for the view of the IX3,

the first of 40 models on the newer class and platform.

So it's a big moment for BMW and where are people saying on your blog about this?

Yes, it's a big moment.

It's a transformative moment for the company, I would say,

because something like this hasn't happened for them in decades.

People on our platforms are equally excited but equally afraid

because they all think that BMW is going to go all on EVs and are going to be all EVs

and they try to put things in context.

Like no, if you want to buy an iScar, you should be able to buy a BMW iScar

for the next 10, 15 years at least or even more.

Don't worry about this, but people like me, for example, because I have a family also,

I enjoy having an electric BMW every day as a daily driver,

but at the same time, I always can have an iScar that I want to have fun with, right?

So of course, we're privileged in the US because we sometimes have two, three cars,

but even if it was like my single car with a family,

I would definitely pick an electric SUV because I use it 90% of the time

for the family stuff versus going to have fun.

So I think the sentiment has been like, you know, what's going to happen.

But I think from what we've seen and from a technology perspective,

I think people are impressed with what they saw on this new iClass

for charging, to range and all of that.

I feel like they've addressed the most important things when it comes to EVs.

Of course, design, everybody keeps complaining about that.

That's fine because it's subjective.

People love to complain on that.

I mean, I'm sure you see all the comments and probably like therapy.

You stop reading them because you cannot satisfy everybody, right?

Exactly.

But let me ask you something.

Now I'm going to turn the table a little bit.

What about your audience?

Because you also cover an audience that maybe I don't interact with too much,

like the Hispanic audience, the Latino.

What's their reaction to electric cars?

I think it's the same.

I think people are afraid.

People don't know.

And I always tell people about like, if you're going to get into an EV car,

you have to learn to live with it.

And like, don't expect to be the same.

It's going to be a different mindset, especially and more planning probably.

But at the end, if you think about it, I mean, when you're in an ICE car

and you're not, you can't run out of gas too.

Exactly.

If you don't plan for it.

You have to plan a little bit more.

But now the technology is so advanced.

I mean, I was just in Chile and I drove a Chinese car up the mountain to a ski resort

and the reading was 100% battery, 420 kilometers, 450 kilometer distance.

But we arrived with 19% and 80 kilometers.

So why?

Because we were going up into the cold.

So you have to learn and to read those kind of things.

And you're not going to learn that just by reading or like watching video.

You have to experience it.

So that's the best thing.

And the best thing I can say to people, experience it.

If you're really considering going from gas to electric, you have to experience it.

And again, like you said, the day-to-day thing is perfect.

And then, like, if you're on long trips, you can plan it.

I mean, like, you can rent a car.

I always tell people, you can rent a car.

Let's see what you're doing.

Because most of the 10 people in the US, especially, they don't do a lot of long road trips.

And Germany is going to come.

And then, if you need one or twice a year, just rent a nice big truck.

And I think at the very beginning, some manufacturers, I don't remember if BMW was doing it,

but they will, like, give you a car and then they will say,

OK, we can loan you a car for a weekend or something.

I think it was, yeah, I think it was something like that initially.

They did a lease program at the very beginning when people were still very afraid of that.

You're right, the dealers were doing that.

I remember with the i3, actually.

Yeah, exactly.

The i3, actually, going back to that, I mean, BMW is not new to this.

I mean, they told us on this trip.

They've been developing the batteries for 20 years and even more.

The hydrogen car, the iX5, which is a fantastic technology.

The infrastructure for that is even more complicated than electricity.

But it makes a lot more sense.

And BMW is still pushing on that side, right?

And people don't realize, I was actually some sort of a trend center

when it comes to the i3.

I've had four i3s since 2011 when it came out.

So I've got a new one every two, three years.

So to me, the EV journey started even before now, like literally 14 years ago.

And I've seen the transition from having an i3 with like 60 miles of range

to like 90 to like 100 and something.

And now having 400 miles to me is like, oh my God, this is like unlimited miles, basically, you know?

And people will still be some worry because, again, they don't experience that they have to live with it.

You have to live with it.

You have to learn, you know, how to do the efficiency thing.

You have to learn what you can charge, how you can charge, how fast and all of that.

But I think once you learn that, you want to drive an EV as a daily driver

because it's so easy to drive as a daily driver.

It's comfortable, you know, it's silent and it's nice.

And especially like in cities where you need to like overtake quick and stop and go, it's perfect, you know?

And we've seen here in, well, we're in Hungary now, but in Munich, I saw a lot of light.

Charging stations, yeah.

Charging stations on the road.

So it's expanding, it's getting more accessible for everybody.

But the key would you say will be a charging station at home, right?

If you have the privilege of coming back.

Best, that's best.

I mean, if you live in a major city like Chicago, New York, it's always tougher, you know?

But even now if like newer buildings, they all come with charging stations.

But I always tell people, if you have like a house, it's less than a thousand dollars investment to get a charging station.

You never go to the gas station.

You never go and you have this piece of mind.

Now people are doing solar panels too.

Exactly.

So now put a solar panel at a house is free basically at that point, you know?

So stuff like that.

But I think it's interesting what we're seeing, you know, and how things are developing.

But for brands, they're very emotional like Porsche, BMW and all these brands.

The Mercedes, it's a huge change for the community, you know?

And for the enthusiast.

I mean, I think we are the M brand.

Exactly.

The Mercedes and BMW are very worried about it.

But anyway, we're about to take the BMW plane.

Not to me only.

It's not electric.

Not yet.

I hope.

Well, thanks for having me.

Have a good year.

It's always good seeing you.

And thanks for a...

Congratulations.

Happy birthday.

Same to you.

Thank you.

Again, just like everywhere BMW blog, right?

All the social media.

All social media, all the same.

Yeah, all the same.

So I appreciate it.

And we'll see you next time.

Thank you.

The plane is leaving.

That's a wrap for this episode of the Total Car Score podcast.

Want more expert takes on the hottest cars, industry trends and insider insights?

Join Javier Mota, Lauren Fix and Carl Brower every week for the ultimate auto talk.

Hit subscribe, like and share with your friends to stay informed and stay ahead.

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S6E52 – Who is the brain and talent behind BMWBlog?

BMW E30

iX3 (G08)

BMW i3

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