I do see your point and agree with much of it but my observation would be that it does not include a more significant factor in the situation - pool of prospective customers?
If we look at it in the form of people with cash and how they make decisions. It is a living company that needs to move forward and make money in a changing world?
I believe your comments are totally right for the people who love Trads and the traditional MMC? As you outline the driving experience, individuality, honesty of the Trad cannot really be compared to anything available commercially. I was certainly surprised when the CX cars appeared and replaced the Trad as well as the Aero models. I don't think the Aero was a commercial success even if I love mine to bits.
I think the issue is that over the years and especially in recent (10) years the prospective customer pool has changed. Cars have become rotatable every 2-3 years and not something you considered as your second biggest investment. Today, desire in the eyes of the younger customer brings images of eco driven battery cool. Manufacturers have been legislated towards BEV, so they have dumped their marketing budget into making it as cool as they can to win the next wave. Or be whacked by the Chinese, Nio, Geely, BYD, GWM, etc etc
The tacit acceptance of subscription based "ownership" through PCP, monthly rental (Jaguar Pivotal, Volvo Subscription) giving access to better cars for a given budget in a changing world. Our sad disposable approach to life. Want to have a child next year, need to cut that monthly bill?
More importantly the values, interests and fashion driven lifestyles that a younger generation are drawn to through the sochul medier lead them to different decisions. Dare I say it but fashion has replaced quality/culture/taste/select your chosen word. Perhaps best indicated by the recent InIn/MMC advert with cultural influencer Challenge Sophie. Maybe they could have done this 15 years ago but hindsight is a swine and maybe they had higher priorities and limited budgets at that time. A car has definitely become part of the vanity culture that social media drives towards us. All the influencer sponsorship frankly makes my stomach turn and I pity the youth suffering it. Peer pressure is horrible.
The regulatory environment in motoring has also gone from headlamp and bumper height to a frightening level of intrusion on driving. Actually I don't think driving has anything to do with it which is horrible. When I see a hedgehog my natural instinct is not to pick it up as I know this will hurt. The same could be said of not aiming a car at a tree, you should not need to be told it's a dumb move. But is seems we do, along with "cup maybe hot, drink may be hot" on a coffee cup. Natural selection has failed us? Yet most of the things being done to cars now seem to be about removing the drivers involvement, self drive, lane collision avoidance, automatic emergency braking. They are now part of of the mandatory test values that go to a car's design goals. Should I just wear a cotton wool onesie as well. Hang on there is probably a sign for that on the sun visor. I suspect that is also the reason the Trad remains popular among a certain profile on the board, quite rightly.
The challenges in front of Morgan remain significant. Look at the loss of Alpina, a true home of petrolheads. They even had BMW make most of the car for them. Worse, look at the recent release by BMW M, the XM. Sorry I was a little sick in my mouth.
Maybe the customer has become very different. Sir John HJ was not a stupid man.
(I aspire to achieve Luddite level posts)
