Granted Fisker seems to be run by amateurs but high-impact social media influencers like MKBHD need to be carefully managed, pampered, and yes, probably paid.
Just getting access to the press car fleet alone is worth something to a reviewer; if they can't get access to cars, they starve, especially if they can't get access before the embargo lifts; all the traffic will go to the reviewers who had pre-embargo access.
If they're honest and don't pull punches, and don't have the clout of say Top Gear - the car company's PR team will cut them off.
The way most reviewers get around being able to sleep at night is by focusing only on the things they like, and lie by omission. Any criticism is focused on subjective meaningless things like "this color is horrid."
For example: go read reviews of the VW Mk8 GTI, see how many reviewers tow VW's line about them "curing" understeer, and how many reviewers are honest about the press car being delivered with softer tread compound tires up front and harder compound tires in the back, to cheat and make the car handle more neutrally.
See how many mention that the press cars were EU models (normal) with a slew of features that won't be available in the US at all (not at all normal), like the fancier adaptive suspension system. See how many of them rave about how good the suspension is...a suspension the US didn't get!
0: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/03/ars-asks-how-do-you-fee...
But what is described here is how common reviewers and influencers are treated. However a superstar like Top Gear or MKBHD won't be impressed by a night at a London airport hotel. They require much more resources otherwise the company risks the hammer coming down like it was case here.
People really shouldn't be surprised by this stuff - this phenomenon is as old as mass media itself.
Nobody knows who Marcus Brownlee is unless they're into tech and under 30.
Disagree. I started looking at EV reviews on Youtube, and soon noticed him in that context. Yes, including the Fisker review. I don't fit your filter. You don't need to be under 30 or into computer hardware to have that experience.
You’ll also note the guy I was originally responding to didn’t, and instead throughout this thread has made vague and uncritical commentary about social media influencers and how they need to be “managed” disregarding what Marques’s channel actually does. Don’t give a guy like that an out.
I don't know how anyone would say he doesn't qualify for the "professional" moniker.
(and envelopes full of cash of course)