Cabal Communications is to relaunch the men’s magazine, Petrolhead,
which went into administrative receivership in the summer.
The magazine, which was originally published by Mediahead but folded
after four issues, was pitched as a men’s lifestyle title with an
emphasis on motors. Cabal plans to turn it into a monthly men’s
specialist title which looks at the speed and performance of cars,
boats, tanks and machines in general.
Andy Sutcliffe, the managing director of Cabal, said: ’I’d like to
produce a magazine about speed, rather like Jeremy Clarkson’s
programmes, from fighter planes to high-performance cars.’
He added that while there were magazines which look at the markets for
car buying and high performance vehicles, there were none which took a
broader view of machines and cars.
Petrolhead will relaunch in March with a target circulation of between
60,000 to 80,000, and carry a cover price of about #3. It is aimed at
24- to 34-year-old men.
Sutcliffe said that three consumer launches were planned before
Petrolhead.
These include two specialist titles, which will launch in February and
early March, and a weekly magazine which will hit the newsstands on 29
January.
The latter, codenamed Crime Weekly, is understood to be an
entertainment-based title which will be a cross between a woman’s
magazine, the National Enquirer and Private Eye. Cabal has also won two
contract magazine titles and is poised to announce a head of its
contract publishing division.
Cabal, which was launched this summer by Sally O’Sullivan, a former
editor-in-chief at IPC, published its first two titles last month - a
young men’s magazine called Front and the Real Homes Magazine. At its
launch, Cabal said it intended to produce 12 magazines in its first
year.
