The Morgan Supersport: In A Field of its Own

One brand that many people here in the states haven't heard of is called Morgan, or formally, the Morgan Motor Company. They make pretty wacky cars, because they're quite a wacky group. It's interesting because they've been seemingly untouched by the rest of the noise in the automotive industry over the years. More screens, more tech, more apps to download... more things that don't actually make the driving experience much better. This company has ignored all of that and has instead made the choice to continue on with their ultra-low volume but distinctive products. That's pretty cool.

The workers at Morgan have been building cars by hand for decades in their small shop nestled in the heart of the United Kingdom countryside. Located in Malvern, the factory offers public tours if you're ever in town! The town is also known for its apparently incredible springwater as well... if you're thirsty. It's nice in Spring too.

They've recently unveiled a new model called the Supersport, but first, let's have a look at the history of the company. It may help put some things in perspective.

With a unique blend of craft, heritage and pure driving experience, the Morgan Motor Company has been manufacturing vehicles in Malvern, UK, for more than 110 years. The company has been passed down through generations since it was founded back in 1909, now being led by fourth-generation family members that carry the responsibility of leading the company.

At the age of twenty-eight,  Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan designed and built his first single-seater three-wheeled experimental car, and it's probably safe to assume he could never have dreamt that he was starting a company that would become the world’s preeminent manufacturer of three-wheeled motor cars.  

After the early success of the 1910 Morgan Runabout three wheeler, one thing led to another. A bit of success here and some more success there led to the improved Aero and Super Sports variants which were also three wheeled. In 1936 the first four-wheeled Morgan was made which was fittingly named the Morgan 4-4 since it had four wheels and four cylinders. Fancy! The company now makes multiple models of four wheeled cars, but the three-wheeled machines set the brand apart for years. I mean, how many three wheeled cars can money buy?

Fast forward to today, and the company is going strong. Although that's a very brief bit of history on the company, hopefully its a bit easier to understand the unique manufacturing and design philosophy now.

The Supersport - Modern Classic

This is Morgan's new flagship model, promising a more modern but perfectly Morgan experience for those lucky enough to get behind the wheel. The car looks much more modern than any of the other models the company has produced, and that's thanks to spending some time near the wind tunnel during development.

"The wheels, a bit like the rest of the car, shows that bit of contrast between subtle intelligent surfacing and really technical performance details." - Jonathan Wells, Chief Design Officer for Morgan Motor Company

It's the most practical offering from the company ever, due in part to options like a interchangeable hard and soft top as well as a trunk! The trunk IS a big deal, because its the first production model in the history of the company to have one. There's another indication of just how quirky the cars are. All the owners have suffered without trunks for all this time... now that's commitment, and a vote of confidence in favor of the machines.

Apparently Morgan CEO Matt Hole told Road and Track that there are "no plans to bring the [new Supersport] model stateside," which is unfortunate, because I was totally going to buy one. Seriously though, I know it would sell well here. Problem is, Morgan probably already has plenty of customers in the UK and Europe since they don't even produce a thousand cars per year. The company is planning to increase production with some new manufacturing improvements, but they promise they'll always be hand-built cars. Us Americans will just have to wait about 25 years until we can import them!

The Supersport is powered by a BMW turbocharged straight-six that makes 335 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque. The company estimates a zero-to-62 mph time of 3.9 seconds before reaching a top speed of 166 mph. With a curb weight of only roughly 2600 pounds, that means the weight to power ratio sits about the same as a BMW M4 CS and a bit better than a base Porsche 911 Carrera. The performance engineering team has taken this model quite seriously it seems!

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