AutoFocus

Auto Focus: tech-first car reviews from Marques Brownlee and Miles Somerville

Auto Focus is an automotive YouTube channel from the MKBHD media ecosystem, presented mainly by Marques Brownlee and Miles Somerville. It is not an EV-only channel, but electric cars play a major role in its identity because many of the channel’s most visible reviews focus on modern EVs, software-defined cars, charging, infotainment, driver-assistance features, and the way technology is changing the car market.

The channel is best suited to viewers who want car reviews from a technology perspective rather than from a traditional automotive-journalism perspective. Auto Focus is especially useful for people who care about screens, software, user interface design, phone integration, charging experience, driver-assistance systems, cameras, build quality, everyday usability, and how a car fits into a modern digital lifestyle. This makes it particularly relevant for EV-curious tech viewers who may not normally watch conventional car channels.

A major strength of Auto Focus is that it often evaluates cars in the same way many new EV buyers experience them: as technology products as much as transportation products. Marques Brownlee’s background in consumer technology gives the channel a distinctive angle. He is often especially interested in interface design, app integration, software smoothness, over-the-air updates, display quality, control layout, cameras, and whether the car feels coherent as a piece of modern hardware and software. That perspective can be very useful for EVs, where the ownership experience is often shaped as much by software and charging behavior as by traditional driving feel.

Miles Somerville is also an important part of the channel. His presence helps make Auto Focus feel less like a personal side project and more like a dedicated automotive branch of the MKBHD studio. Together, Marques and Miles give the channel a conversational, polished, and accessible style. The tone is generally curious and consumer-focused rather than deeply technical in an engineering sense.

Auto Focus has also become notable for access to unusual and early vehicles, especially electric cars that many North American viewers cannot easily experience. The channel has covered cars such as the Xiaomi SU7, the Rolls-Royce Spectre, Tesla models, Hyundai performance EVs, and other high-interest electric vehicles. This makes the channel useful not only for buying advice, but also for viewers who want to understand where the global EV market is going, especially as Chinese and software-heavy vehicles become more influential.

The channel’s geek level is moderate, but it is a different kind of geekiness from many EV specialist channels. Auto Focus is not primarily about charging curves, 1,000 km tests, battery chemistry, thermal-management strategy, diagnostics, or repeatable highway range testing. Its technical depth is more about user experience: software, controls, driver assistance, screen design, app behavior, charging convenience, and the overall “tech product” feel of the car. For viewers who care about those areas, the channel can be more relevant than a traditional horsepower-and-handling review.

Auto Focus’s EV stance can be described as broadly EV-positive and technology-forward, but not blindly promotional. The channel clearly treats EVs as important, interesting, and often exciting, but it is also willing to criticize poor design choices, confusing controls, weak software, disappointing practicality, or cars that do not live up to the hype. The perspective is less “EV advocacy” and more “does this car work well as a modern product?”

Production quality is one of the channel’s biggest strengths. Auto Focus benefits from the MKBHD studio’s visual style, with crisp camera work, clean editing, strong lighting, polished sound, and a modern presentation format. Compared with many independent EV channels, the videos feel highly produced and visually refined. This makes the channel especially accessible to viewers who might find long, data-heavy EV testing videos too slow or too technical.

The main limitation is that Auto Focus is not a specialist EV testing channel. Viewers looking for standardized range tests, detailed charging-curve analysis, winter efficiency testing, towing tests, or deep ownership data will usually need more EV-focused sources. Auto Focus is also not a traditional car-enthusiast channel centered on chassis feel, mechanical detail, motorsport heritage, or combustion-engine character. Its value lies in a different space: explaining cars, especially EVs, through the lens of technology, usability, and modern consumer experience.

Overall, Auto Focus is a strong channel for viewers who want polished, tech-aware car reviews with significant EV coverage. It is especially useful for EV-curious beginners, technology enthusiasts, and mainstream buyers who care about software, interfaces, design, charging convenience, and how electric cars fit into everyday life. It is not the deepest EV data channel, but it is one of the clearest examples of how car reviewing is changing as vehicles become more like connected technology products.