A fine idea in theory, but could they get the production costs low enough to make such a proposition attractive to buyers?
The existing Aero range (even the Aero Plus 8) are eye-wateringly expensive, and the BMW V8 can't be a massive part of that cost over and above a 4 or 6 cylinder unit.
If they can get the list price of an aluminium platform car in under the £40 - 45k price point, which I would think they need to do in order to snag the majority of trad buyers, I'd be amazed.
As we have seen with other Aero models, they might be wonderful cars but the demand just doesn't seem to be there to sustain a production of 10 or 12 cars a week.
Start off with the basics. Price and cost arent related. You hope that your price covers your cost and is acceptable, but if you can change £5k for an extra that costs £1 and still sell, then thats what you do.
And thats what Morgan do. Speccing up a new trad you are unlikely to end up much less than £45k, which is pretty expensive compared to the range of much more sophisticated, better engineered cars you can buy for £15k. Nevertheless MMC are selling mainly in the £50k to £100k range for coach built special interest cars. They arent competing with Hyundai.
Regulations and standards come into the equation. I dont know the details of the motor industry ones but you can be pretty sure that MMC wont be allowed to continue selling cars built to completely outdated safety standards. Nor will the public accept it.
As for costs, no way can the cost of a solid rear axle with drum brakes be any less than an independant disc braked system. All the modern parts can be cannibalised from the mass manufacturer ranges. The cost issue is much more likely to be one of tooling up and to a large degree thats been bought already with the Plus 8.
I would have thought that MMC would only win from taking the Plus 8 structure and fitting it with the 3 cylinder Ford Eco engine at the bottom of the Range, and with a 2 litre 4 pot in the middle. The Plus 8 will have to lose its 8 sometime soon so you could end up with a 4 car range - the 3cyl, the 4 pot, the plus 8 and the Aero.
It would make an awful lot of business sense and since you still have a "Trad looking" range, I cant see that MMC would lose their niche. And it would give an opportunity for MMC to modernise a currently laughable production process and quality standards.
