I dont think for a minute that the difference Easter describes is down to Hicom or to the dealers. Dealers for both marques will be just as reliable / unreliable, and often the same company. Its my view that a satisfactorily reliable car is one that is well built in the factory because dealer repairs are at best a lottery. And by the way, my father was a dealer.
I know I have dribbled on about this before, but I reckon that the difference such as it is is down to the standard of the factories. For those who have never been there, Lotus at Hethel is like a smaller version of a major manufacturer with all the facilities you might expect. It has to be hopelessly uneconomic with the volumes they sell, but it does mean that cars are assembled on a proper assembly line. In short they are nearer mass produced than hand made like Morgan. And it does help that Lotus are a significant player in the motor industry technical consultancy game - they have the know how.
Morgan in contrast has an old fashioned hand made approach producing cars as they did in the 30s / 40s with the quality ( from what easter reports) that we had in that era. But, and its a major but, the Morgan way is low cost low overheads and the reason why Morgan carry on making a profit whilst loss making Lotus go from owner to owner .
Easters comments about being willing to buy another Moggie are interesting. He seems to feel, as I do after several Moggie road tests, that the Lotus is a better performing modern sports car but the Morgan has a character and a style that makes it very attractive despite its faults. I agree with him. Anyone want to buy a Lotus? Immac, 17k miles, 190bhp in 900kg, aircon, traction, leather and gently treated by one geriatric owner.
