Alex Hirschi is an internet and social media phenom, with millions of fans clicking billions of likes on her videos of hyper-exotic cars and other trappings of the super wealthy. She goes on ride-alongs with Paris Hilton, F1 icon Lewis Hamilton, boxing champ and Philippines politico Manny Pacquiao, actor/motorhead Vin Diesel, even composer Hans Zimmer—all of whom likely often confide they’re big fans of her. “Alex Hirschi” doesn’t ring a bell? She’s much better known as Supercar Blondie.
Now, after years of talking about and showing off the exotic, unusual and sometimes plain bizarre (but inevitably amazing) cars, trucks, boats, motorcycles, homes, submarines, aircraft and more, Hirschi is starting a new venture: Selling them at auction.
Hirschi, along with husband and partner Nik Hirschi, are launching SBX Cars, an auction and sales platform that will leverage Supercar Blondie’s immense popularity to sell exotic vehicles and such to the (wealthy) general public. Alex and Nik Hirschi took time recently to talk with me about their new venture, and about Supercar Blondie’s history and rise to internet superstardom.
Naturally, SBX Cars will get an immediate audience from Hirschi’s massive online presence, which stretches across all major social media platforms but started innocently in 2017 when she was a radio personality in Dubai. “I had a personal Instagram account just like anyone else,” Hirschi said. “And I just always loved cars and I was a journalist. I had like 200 friends or whatever and I just started uploading videos of my experience driving these incredible cars for the first time, and I think the angle we came from was if your mum or your best friend got a cool car, what would excite them the most? It’s not the technical specs and the engine and all of that. It’s how the door might open, the lights, the gadgets. Everyday things that people get excited about when they buy a new car or sit in a new car.”
The “cool-to-me” approach, such as in the video below, was a refreshing and popular departure from the typically jargon-heavy, motorhead boys club that surrounds exotic cars, and Hirschi said many of her initial fans and followers were female car enthusiasts.
Just a year after posting her first videos, Hirschi left the radio business to pursue online stardom with support from her husband and SBX Cars partner Nik Hirschi. Today, she counts over 18 million subscribers on YouTube, 16 million on Instagram and millions more on other channels.
Hirschi says the SBX Cars venture will not be limited to motor vehicles. One upcoming auction will offer boatmaker Tyde’s first hydrofoiling electric glass yacht, call The Icon, that included BMW in the design and build phase. She pilots the unusual craft in the video below.
“This is going to be the only digital auction platform that just focuses on the super rare and exclusive vehicles. So we are mainly focused on cars,” Hirschi told me. “However, with that said, if there’s something super unique, we’re gonna be having them on the site as well.” Hirschi said that could even include a large, functional anime-type robot from Japan.
Hirschi says that differentiation from established high-end auction houses like Sotheby’s, Bonhams and others is an avenue that SBX Cars will work to exploit. She said many of the best-known auction houses often reserve their most premium offerings for limited participation auctions away from the public, but SBX Cars will be much more transparent – and timely. As an online-only venture, Hirschi said sellers wanting to post vehicles for auction won’t have to wait for auction festivals like the Pebble Beach Concours or other annual events. “I feel like there’s no one doing what we’re about to do,” she said.
The first vehicle on auction for the new SBX Cars platform? The controversial Tesla Cybertruck, Elon Musk’s wedge of stainless steel that’s been both derided as a 1980’s sci-fi B-movie prop and also heralded as a bold vision of automotive design and the infusion of innovation trucks have needed for decades. As of the first hours of the 14-day auction, bidding was at $50,000.
After that, the company says upcoming auctions will include a one-of-three Lamborghini Veneno Coupe, Mercedes/AMG One and the hydrogen-powered Hyperion XP-1 prototype. A company spokesman says SBX Cars has over $100 million in vehicles already lined up for auction on the platform.
The SBX Cars venture will also hopefully dial back some of the time pressure on Hirschi, who said she was working 16-hours days and has posted over 1,000 videos. She now has a small team of presenters that travel the world in her stead to showcase the exotic, strange and unusual in the world of the super-wealthy wheels and luxury.