Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Plus Four, Supersport & Plus Six (CX & CXV Generation Vehicles) Safety Recall - Brakes

Most likely one of the real issues for a small manufacturer is the lack of development time and testing prior to production of new models with increasingly (for Morgan) more advanced technologies being bought into play. Having said that brakes and radiators are pretty old well proven engineering technology. The engines and transmissions have been subject to original manufacturer testing and QC like many other of the outsourced components, so its only the bits that Morgan design, build that are purely down to Morgan's own inhouse development and QC regime. It would be interesting to understand how much of the Morgan CX is now built from outsourced components and what reliance Morgan places on other companies design, testing, inspection and QC procedures and how that compares with Morgan's own inhouse development, and QC resources commitment.

I must admit having been out of Morgans for nearly 30 years, I was somewhat surprised as to the extent of the issues on M3W and now the CX, maybe the internet has made it more visible but I certainly don't recollect the same level of development issues back in the 80's and 90's. Certainly build quality, eg untreated wood frames, mild steel inner wings and bulk head corrosion were well known and understood weaknesses that have been addressed over time with better treatments and better quality materials used. Or were these things more symptomatic of simpler days and simpler cars to build and maintain compared to the complexity of modern green cleaner technology driven Morgan cars of today.

Or has there been a more fundamental shift in the persona of Morgan in its search to take the brand increasingly upmarket, with increasingly more powerful models at a much more expensive price point possibly without the internal infrastructure and resources to assure delivery of a reliable product...........even the best car manufacturers with massive development budgets suffer setbacks and problems with their products. Maybe there is a important lesson here for Morgan that it may need to take heed of in its scramble to release newer and more sophisticated models....ie get the basics right otherwise it can bite you severely on the bum, do untold reputational damage in a very different customer base today compared with 30 or 40 years ago of Morgan enthusiasts, that's beside the cost of putting all these thing right.

I thought about a CX, I'm glad I didn't go ahead, they are a great car, a step change compared to the trad, but the trad benefits from decades of development in the basic areas that keep the allure and cars alive.

I sincerely hope this fixes the CX issues for good,.