• by Michael Shields , October 10, 2004

The cover spells it out in the upper right hand corner: "Warning, this is not your father's car magazine."

Just below that warning is a headline, "50 Cent, His cars. His flesh wounds." in a reference to the much shot-at rap star.

It's clear right away that MPH, which stands for "Maximum Performance + Horsepower," is not geared toward dads--though they may like the cover shot, which features a new yellow mustang, superseded by a picture of a babe in a leather skirt striking a "start your engines" pose.

The new launch from American Media carries the tagline, "Speed, sex, stuff." A car magazine carrying a heavy dose of "laddie" magazine attitude, its cover stories range from "The 3-series BMW doesn't want you to see," to "How to get Free Sex from perfect strangers!"

MPH Editor in Chief Eddie Alterman says that a new group of car lovers is being passed over by the media. "There is no new car magazine that speaks to a new generation of car enthusiasts," he said.

According to Alterman, there are currently two categories of car magazines on the market. The first encompasses Car and Driver and Road and Track, which he says are focused on the reviewing new car models. "They are really established, venerable magazines," he said. "And they have aged and grayed over the years."

[For the record, based on the most recent MRI data, Car and Driver's median age is 33 and Road and Track's is 38.]

The second category of car books, Alterman says, are byproducts of the street racing movie "The Fast and the Furious." Magazines such as Super Street"cater to 14- to-25-year-olds," says Alterman.

"There is a 20-year demo gap to fill between these categories," he added, "along with a psychographic gap."

Alterman, who worked previously at Automobile, says that this generation of guys have different expectations from magazines, admitting that MPH has been influenced by the GQs and Maxims of the world.

"These guys are used to a hipper media model," he said.

MPH is also much more of a lifestyle publication that most car titles, and will run more features on car culture rather than focusing "under the hood."

"People are more into cars than ever," he said. "But this generation of men doesn't work on their cars so much, since cars are more electronic than ever. The interest in cars is more design-orientated."

In addition, Hip Hop culture has undoubted been influential with this group (witness MTV's "Pimp my Ride"). "There has been a melding of black and white cultures in this generation," Alterman said. "We will be a lot more multicultural that existing car magazines."

More multicultural, and far less practical, Alterman promises that their will be no mid-sized sedan comparisons and no minivans.

There will be sex however. Each issue MPH features a photo of "Backseat Betty" (November's is Anastasia). The first issue includes a story titled "Doggin Style," which examines British sex parks.

Alterman knows that some advertisers will be squeamish. "It's a little off-putting for some traditional buyers," he said. "We'll accept that." But Maxim and its brethren seem to be doing just fine. MPH has convinced Gillette, Nivea, and Pontiac, among others.

To get the 10-times-a-year, 100,000-rate base title rolling, Alterman is counting on the newsstand clout of American Media. "The distribution plan was written by David Pecker himself," he said.