29 Jan

British sports car maker Morgan profits rev up as it prepares to launch new models (Daily Mail (UK) 29 Jan 2019)

[There is lots of speculation about the new power plant. Some say an inline 6 cylinder from BMW (like this report) while others see an I-6 as a direct competitor of the current V6 Roadster. I guess it is possible that they might go to a Supercharged or Turbocharged engine. I guess we will find out soon enough. Mark]

British sports car maker Morgan announced record results as it prepares to launch a range of vehicles in its 110th year.

The Malvern-based family-owned firm, which employs 204 staff, said profits jumped to £3.6million last year from £2million 12 months earlier.

Output dropped from 750 to 681 cars as the firm said goodbye to the thirsty V8 engine and the Aero 8 and Plus 8 models which use it.

On a roll: Malvern-based family-owned firm Morgan, which employs 204 staff, said profits jumped to £3.6m last year from £2m 12 months earlier

Morgan is expected to launch a more frugal but sportier replacement at this spring’s Geneva Motor Show. 

Output last year dropped from 750 to 681 cars as the firm said goodbye to the outgoing thirsty V8 engine and the Aero 8 and Plus 8 models which use it, and prepare instead for the launch of less thirsty but even sportier replacements. 

This will be a new wide-bodied Morgan sports car with a new flexible aluminium chassis – which the firm has spent £7 million developing – plus an expected leaner, meaner six-cylinder petrol engine from BMW, which bosses believe will together create ’the most dynamically capable production Morgan ever’.

Chairman Dominic Riley said that as part of a five-year strategy the business had increased the gross margin on its cars from 25 per cent to 35 per cent, making it more efficient and profitable.

Morgan exports 70 per cent of its production to around 50 countries.

Riley said they were taking prudent precautions to stockpile and store sufficient engines to see them through any short-term Brexit hiccup.

He said: ‘We’ve been trading with Europe for 110 years. 

‘So we’re very adaptable, nimble and flexible. We’re taking sensible measures.’ 

26 Jan

New Morgan ‘Wide Body’ Sports Car Caught Testing (Autocar – 25 Jan 2019)

Morgan’s 110-year anniversary model uses all-new aluminium platform and ditches V8 engine

Morgan is set to launch an all-new sports car this year, and the first shots of prototypes testing have emerged. 

As expected, the model’s design is a familiar adaptation of the 1930s-inspired look that Morgans have carried for decades, set to evolve further with a new range-topping model in 2020. But under the skin there’s substantial developments.

The new model, known internally as the ‘Wide Body’, will make use of an all-new and lighter bonded aluminium platform.  The company also says the new car will feature “a powertrain never before installed in a Morgan”.

This year marks the 50th – and final – year of the Malvern-based maker fitting V8 engines to its cars. The final examples of the Aero 8 and Plus 8, fitted with BMW’s N62 V8, will be kept for Morgan’s heritage fleet. It is thought that a downsized, forced-induction six-cylinder engine will be used for an upcoming flagship model, due in the early 2020s – and this could be the powertrain used for next year’s car.

Morgan claims the sports car is positioned above the Roadster, Plus 4 and 4/4 in performance terms, but is “not designed to be a direct replacement for the outging Plus 8 and Aero 8”. Those models will be replaced in the next few years by the new flagship.

The new car’s chassis is said to be twice as stiff as the aluminium chassis used in previous flagship Morgans, which together with the new engine “will result in the most dynamically capable production Morgan ever”, according to the firm.

Graham Chapman, Morgan’s technology director, says next year’s launch “is the culmination of several years of unprecedented development in design and engineering for Morgan. This has produced the most advanced development programme in Morgan’s history, the results of which we cannot wait to share with our customers worldwide”.