Return of the Mac - The McLaren P1 is here!

Mac's back; McLaren has officially released important information about its successor to the F1, the P1.

First, returning to F1 territory has seen the price of the P1 announced at £866,000, a near-quarter-million rise from the F1's £635,000 price tag in 1992. This puts it into direct competition with other 'hypercar' giants; the likes of the Bugatti Veyron (or its rumoured successor), Pagani Huayra, Koenigsegg Agera and Ferrari's F70; speculated to be revealed at next month's Geneva Motor Show.

Other details released are vital performance stats - although top speed is limited to 350kph, 0-62 is in sub-3.0 second territory, asserting its status as a true descendant of the now legendary F1, which set the standard for hypercar performance over 20 years ago. McLaren also draws on comparisons to the F1 however, stating that the P1 will be 23 percent faster than its predecessor, with 0-200kph (124mph) figures below 7.0 seconds, with 0-300kph (186mph) happening in less than 17 seconds, thanks to McLaren's Instant Power Assist System (IPAS). This is thanks to the 3.8-litre V8 engine providing 908bhp, with a little help from a smaller electric motor. The electric motor can also be used independently to the petrol-burning unit, meaning the P1 can also be used as a zero-emission hybrid when the V8 is not engaged. Economy figures are particularly impressive too; C02 emissions below 200g/km are boasted on a combined cycle, meaning that although the P1's V8 engine and blistering performance mark it out as performance-based and uneconomical, the environmental concern behind such a car does not go ignored. A thoroughly 21st-Century car.

Officially released pictures show the P1's styling to be suitably extreme; with aggressive, modern features gracing the new McLaren's aerodynamic bodywork; headlights integrating into the front air intake system, and tail lights being tucked neatly in line with the rear architecture gives the P1 an almost seamless appearance, with only the enormous, retractable rear wing breaking the model's swoopy lines.

The production of the P1 is also set to be limited to just 375, ensuring the P1's exclusivity on the road, as if a price tag of £866,000 hadn't already done so.

Back to Alfa status? - Marchionne's plan for beleaguered Alfa Romeo

It's about time Alfa Romeo pulled their act together.

Past reputations of dodgy build quality, unreliability and questionable choices aside, think back to what Alfa Romeo have done in the past. Before their predominant absence from the market, they were producing gold, model after model. Remember the GTV/Spider of 1995? A car so strikingly beautiful that I dreaded its replacement for fear of them producing something which couldn't follow the model's dazzling looks. Albeit flawed and marred heavily by Alfa's tradition of squidgy 

And how wrong I was! The Brera stormed onto the car scene like a dazzlingly beautiful, glamorous woman waltzes into a greasy spoon. Nothing came close to its looks, and when the 159 followed suit, it seemed like Alfa was onto a real winner; filling a variety of segments with at least adequate cars, with flair and style, attracting a left-field market from the increasingly bland offerings from Bavaria, Ingolstadt and Stuttgart. 

But since the overweight and underpowered 159 was pulled from Alfa's line-up, and the 166 faded into obscurity and was also pulled, unnoticed by anyone, between 2007 and 2011, Alfa Romeo has offered just the Mito, before the introduction of the Giulietta in 2010. However good the Giulietta and MiTo are, Alfa Romeo is not a small car specialist. Their turf lies in the alternative market; people who don't want the ubiquity of a Z4 or the hairdresser image of a TT or SLK so opt for a Spider.

But there is no need to fear - the 4C (pictured; courtesy of Cédric Janodet on Flickr) is on its way. Due to be officially unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show next month, the 4C on appearance alone is getting the blood of car fans everywhere pumping. Alright, the slightly-too-pale matte red of the concept wasn't the best colour for it, perhaps a more vivid scarlet would have matched the £50,000 sports car's appearance more suitably, but it's plain to see that the 4C is going to follow Alfa's achingly-gorgeous archetype, bringing old customers back to familiar territory.

So the 4C is just the start of Sergio Marchionne's grand plan to bring Alfa back from fading away, including the Giulia, also due to be unveiled at Geneva. The plan spans a number of years and will see several new models in addition to the 4C and Giulia introduced into the Alfa Romeo lineup, including a small and larger SUV, the smaller of which could be based on Fiat's 500X platform, which it shares with Jeep's upcoming 'Baby Jeep' model.

So things at Fiat/Chrysler Group are set to get a lot more crowded over the coming years, only a few short years after both companies reported dismal sales figures and Chrysler began administration proceedings.

Let's get this show on the road!

Setting up this blog didn't quite go as according to plan as I'd hoped, but this is happening, and it's happening right now.

Things got a little crazy with different commitments lately, essays had to be written, trips across the country were arranged, then executed with breathtaking ineptitude (thanks public transport) which meant that a 2-hour journey to Southampton turned into a 7-hour nightmare on various trains across the south of England, before I gave up and the good old car rescued me yet again, thanks to a kind taxi driver who gave me a reduced rate after hearing my plight.

Also, an amazing week's internship at Autocar saw off any kind of outside writing; never in my life has something so rewarding also been quite so tiring, again thanks to good old trains. But I have a few bylines on their website, and a week at one of the country's finest, most respected and largest-circulation motoring magazines under my belt, as well as some lovely new acquaintances and a whole load of knowledge about the working environment of such a publication. I've had two internships at AutoExpress, main rival to Autocar, and it's really hard to compare the two; although they occupy the same space in the market, the people at both are so lovely, the work is so engaging and the working environment is so perfect, that nothing can stop my determination for making it into the motoring journalism world. They were every bit as amazing as I thought they would be and more, so I'm really looking forward to working with both in the future, if I'm lucky enough to get such an opportunity.

(I also got a writing job as a motoring correspondent, but I'll give more info on that when I've

But that's enough excuses and back story, it's time to get started. Obviously while I've been away from MotorWire I've been non-stop thinking of ideas and things to include, so here's a little rundown of exactly what is going to be happening on this blog, what you can expect to see, and how things are going to be coming at you over the next while.

The main focus of MotorWire will be the most important news stories from the motoring world, and these will be published as and when they happen, the same day as they are found, so everything you read in the news here will be knife-edge current, and news which will be interesting and relevant to motoring life.

The next ideas will break the news up a little bit, and add a little colour to MotorWire, as well as give everyone who wants to get involved something to discuss and get debating about.

The first solidly weekly feature will be an opinion column of sorts; I'll be giving my verdict upon the most relevant and captivating story or stories from the week, or if the news from the world of motoring has been particularly slow that week, a piece about a motoring issue will replace the news column that week. Topics will range from law, to driving life, to the newest models or marques this week, so I give you my word that it will be interesting, no matter what I'm writing about. This will happen every Monday.

The next feature I've decided to incorporate into the MotorWire schedule is a weekly piece on a car from the past which really captivated the attention of the world, or should have, but didn't. It's not just going to feature the fastest or most expensive, but those which really deserve recognition after a stretch of obscurity. These will happen on a Thursday.

So that's the roundup of things to come, I hope you'll be here for the ride! Also, to really grab your attention, here's a picture of a combination of both gratuitous extravagance and pure automotive beauty.

About MotorWire

Welcome to MotorWire, my motoring blog containing the most important motoring news stories published twice weekly or as and when they appear if they're REALLY juicy, and a weekly opinion feature to keep things spicy.

All of the pieces written in MotorWire will be written by me; Jimi Beckwith. I'm a 20-year-old journalism student at the University of Westminster, looking to crack the motoring journalism segment. Before you ask, my favourite carmaker is Maserati, and my favourite car is... well, there's too many to list, so the first one I can think of is the Vector W8 (pictured, courtesy of Motor74 on Flickr). I drive a 2002 Vauxhall Corsa, but if I had my way it'd be a 2004 Smart Roadster-Coupe Brabus.

Motoring journalism is all I've ever wanted to do, ever since I was about 3 and my Grandad would quiz me on different cars in the car park, and I'd always know every single one. As times moved on, so did my passion, and when my parents were looking to buy a new car (we got through a Fiesta, two Orions and an Escort Estate in about fifteen years), I'd be cutting out pictures of the nicer cars, sticking them to paper and writing about them to make a mini-magazine. So you could say I'm one of those people who has always known what they've wanted to do, and it didn't take me long to figure out how to get there.

Fast forward ten years and I'm at university. The work is good and informative, we cover a broad range of topics and media, from radio to current affairs to press conferences, but whenever we're given an open-brief assignment I dive back into motoring mode, back into my element. This is where I really have a passion.

As well as this blog, I'm building up examples of work from my internships; I've had two at AutoExpress magazine, one in the Summer and one just before Christmas, and I've been invited back for a third, which I am thrilled about, and I'm also off to AutoCar for a week in just under a month, and seeing as it's my first time there I'm pretty nervous about going there. It's serious, serious business which will affect the rest of my life (arguably one of the most important weeks of my life), so I'm knuckling down and starting some portfolio expansion right now, with the aid of this blog and any other work I decide to do.

But this is MotorWire, the newest (for now) and greatest (I wish) motoring blog in the blogosphere!

Here's to writing in a crucial time in the motoring industry, and a crucial time in my life!