Since Ken Block’s passing, things have been weird at Hoonigan. Immediately after his passing, it was understandable. Hoonigan put out a bunch of statements about how they were mourning and were going to go radio silent for a while. I get that. I was doing the same thing at the time, as myself and the majority of the car world were shocked by his passing. However, after that period, Hoonigan came out swinging. Tons of new projects, launching Gymkhana Grid, Lia Block’s Tribute run at Pike’s Peak, you name it. They were going to go back to their roots and do what they did best. I was pumped. However, six or so months later, here we are and Hoonigan is not looking so good anymore.

Back in September 2021, Hoonigan was sold to Wheel Pros. At the time, I didn’t think much of it. I figured as long as they let them be them, shouldn’t matter who is making the money. It’s looking now like I was very wrong. Fast forward to October 2023, Hoonigan announced they were going to rebrand. It was a bit weird to me seeing how their branding was so strong. With over 10 Gymkhana videos, an Amazon Prime special, and brand recognition of pretty much every car enthusiast, I was a little perplexed as to why they would change. Especially now, as Hoonigan is not a new brand. I would argue they are very well established. You wouldn’t expect a rebrand from such a large company, but who knows? I am not involved in their financial decisions so similar to when they were sold, I had a hunch but didn’t think much. Little did I know, it would all come crumbling down shortly after.

Since that announcement, Hoonigan has been bleeding staff. And not just random people here and there, but well-known, well-established employees including founding members. When the OGs leave, you know something is going on behind the scenes. It all started with Hert announcing on his YouTube channel just a couple of days before the rebranding announcement. He had been relatively MIA on Hoonigan channels so that wasn’t surprising. What was, however, was when Brian Scotto, founder and then current COO announced he was stepping down. A major blow to the company at least from an outside perspective. Just a couple of weeks later, Vin Anatra, the Vice President Of Business Development announced he was leaving. Even crazier than all of that, literally right now, like while I am writing this, Ron Zaras, Senior VP, announced he was also leaving. It’s absolute carnage at Hoonigan.

Now, I am not in the room, I don’t have all of the facts, but from what I can see, it doesn’t look good. I assume that without Ken, Wheel Pros is looking to move the company in a new direction, and that directly conflicts with the vision these guys leaving had. Companies are allowed to operate as they see fit and obviously, they don’t have a problem with these guys leaving or it wouldn’t have happened. It is a bit sad for me however as I am a long-time subscriber to their content. I fell in love with Hoonigan back in 2013 when I bought one of their shirts at a Zumiez. I love all of the build projects videos and deep-dive updates from the team. Having that real connection makes you feel like you are a part of what’s going on. Without these guys on the channel, I have no real interest in their content and I suspect many others do too.

On the surface, it appears that Hoonigan is dead in the water. Certain the Hoonigan that I fell in love with is for sure. There is no way to continue in the same direction without the team that built it. As for Wheel Pros’ future version of Hoonigan, that remains to be seen. I suspect without these founding team members, there will be much less resistance to new ideas and rebranding plans. As a long-time fan, I can only hope that this new era turns the brand into something cool. It will never be the same, but that doesn’t mean new is bad. At least it’s not guaranteed to be bad. Hopefully, the brand can recover and truly start fresh for a new audience. As for the team leaving, I am genuinely excited to see what they end up doing. From the limited information they provided, it sounds like the much-needed gaps in the car industry are going to be filled, whether that is through more YouTube content or car auction platforms. They seem to all be living out the words of Ken Block with the “ Go Fast, Risk Everything” lifestyle. I wish the best to those guys and pray that Wheel Pros doesn’t screw this up any more than they have. Here’s to hoping for a better 2024 for the remnants of the Hoonigan team.