How Australian reporter grew to become world’s most profitable ‘carfluencer’

When Alex Hirschi started out in journalism in the early noughties, the amateur reporter and sports car enthusiast couldn’t have even fathomed where her career would lead. 

The 39-year-old, from Boonah, Queensland, began her career as a broadcast journalist before relocating to Dubai with her husband Nic – who worked as a finance manager – in 2008.

Following the move, Alex began dabbling in motoring journalism and set up a YouTube channel called ‘Supercar Blondie’, where she shared tours of some of the world’s most expensive and rare vehicles, in 2016.

Fast forward eight years and Alex now boasts over 120m followers across her multiple social media platforms and gets more than 2bn monthly views. 

In an interview with The Times, the social media star detailed how she always takes a ‘girl next door’ approach to her YouTube videos – as she estimates that ‘only one per cent’ of people understand discussions around fuel efficiency and engine ‘torque’. 

Although Alex intended to stick to radio when she first moved to Dubai, the sports cars she encountered in her day-to-day life captured her imagination – and she regularly saw teenagers driving Ferraris and Porsches to school.

After presenting a Drive Live radio show for Dubai Eye, Alex uploaded a video of her walking over some sand dunes towards a red Ferrari on Instagram – which ended up being her first viral post.

Not long after, Nic and Alex quit their steady jobs to capitalise on her social media success and began travelling the world – and even accepted hundreds of thousands just to have lunch with a fan. 

In this period, Alex met a billionaire in Vegas who owned two Bugatti Chirons, which are said to be worth $3.5m each. Her job has also seen her meet British racing driver Lewis Hamilton and sports car enthusiast and Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul.

The couple also flew to Mexico to met one of the country’s richest families, who own five supercars each. 

Thanks to her strong online following, Alex has previously reported to have made more than $4million-a-year from social media posts.

As such, Alex and Nic – who met as teenagers – now split their time between their homes in Dubai and London and have shared glimpses of their lavish lifestyle online.

The influencer – who now has her own car auction website – has previously spent $20,00 on a Louis Vuitton jacket and went on to sell a $500,000 Rolex for a profit. 

While she regularly films tours of sports cars worth up to £2m, Alex also has a car collection worth a reported £934,000. 

As well as a £330,000 Rolls-Royce Spectre, Alex also owns a Brabus G800 that she bought for an estimated £420,000, a BMW X6 worth £75,000, a Tesla Cubertruck costing £70,000 and a Tesla Model 3 that is reportedly £39,000.

However, Alex said the jet-setting lifestyle began to take its toll on her and the star claims she didn’t have a day off for three years.

She explained: ‘Those years were very difficult. We were never in a city for longer than two days at a time.

‘There was a lot of hate from people who had been in the industry for a while, mostly male journalists calling me a bimbo. You know, “You slept your way to get that.”‘

Opening up about the vicious trolling she received, Alex continued: ‘Then Covid hit and I realised how depressed I was. I was anxious. I wasn’t sleeping. I could maybe sleep two hours a night. I was reading every comment. 

‘And you know, there are a few people who hate you and want to express that. Unfortunately, one hate message gets to you over 100 messages of support and love. I went through a massive mental breakdown.’

Looking forward, Alex is now hoping to take more a backseat and not appear on camera by five years from now – adding that she only agreed to be filmed because wanted to  

From childhood, Alex had always been drawn to the larger than life excesses the United Arab Emirates is famed for.

‘I always wanted to at least visit Dubai…it had the world’s biggest everything and clearly had a vision to stand out,’ she told Daily Mail Australia in 2017.

After relocating with her husband in 2008, Mrs Hirschi set about building a network of car industry contacts through her radio job before jumping into the driver’s seat.

Having amassed 60,000 followers in 2017, she felt confident that her passion could become her main source of income.

‘Once the following started to grow, I moved from my personal account to create Supercar Blondie and uploaded pics exclusively around cars,’ Mrs Hirschi said.

‘Then it came to a point where I could do this full time. It was a big decision for me, jumping from traditional media to social media, but I knew it was the right move.’

Mrs Hirschi has always had a passion for supercars and often has ‘pinch me’ moments when she remembers how lucky she is to be living her dream.

‘I’m not sure why that is [the passion for cars], but I think it comes down to two things – coming from a driving culture, and having parents who love to drive,’ she said.

‘We would go on 12-hour road trips in the country, so I spent a lot of time in cars.’