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I was brought to the Morgan fold by the Aero 8 and now also have a 3 wheeler, which I love despite the issues that have affected my one year old car.

The trad range would probably never have appealed to me sufficiently to make the move and I am now a committed Morganite.

All car companies make mistakes, and I expect we are pleased if the Eva is quietly given a humane burial despite its undoubted possibilities.

Rather than knocking the cost of the Aero I believe it is time to use the Aero chassis and the lessons learned more intelligently. The company lost a lot of money by chasing the US and all that stuff which they can now do with the 3W and that's a great thing, but the rule changes that prevented the Aero selling in the US and the imperfect development are bound to have cost a huge sum. I expect CM is somewhat blamed for that, and it undoubtedly ate into the reserves big time.

Moving the Aero range upmarket was a mistake as sales have showed. And the Plus 8 is too compromised at its price point to my mind. But we also all need to acknowledge that the trad chassis cannot last for ever in a world with increasing technology and legislation unless Morgan is to simply become a small niche maker of relics.

Bring out an Aero 6 GT3 or even an Aero 4. Give it a boot and a half decent hood. Take the old TVR market, and by all means create a 4/4, Plus 4 or similar on the Aero chassis too.

Oh - and re-launch an improved lighter M3W which can be sold as nearly globally as possible but don't sell more than 600 - 800 a year.

And not more than 5 or 6 models in total. Currently there seem to be about 9 or so.

My kids both want to drive the Roadster, but it is unaffordable to add them to the policy until they are over 30. Why?
I spoke to the underwriter and it is because the car is considered to be hand built and therefore cannot be repaired by a normal car repair place = expensive.

To get a young owner group they need to make a car that can be sold for less than £25,000 and is cheap to repair. I don't think that, given the way Morgan builds cars, this is possible.

Aldermog

Your avatar intrigues me.....are you kissing a Goldfish ?

We've been down this route before. The Aero chassis would be too expensive to use for the 4/4 and the Plus 4 and you'd end up with a car close to the width of the Plus 8 unless radical changes were made to the existing Aero chassis, which would mean more costly development.

The Traditional steel chassis will no doubt be either legislated out or the rear axle components will cease to be produced and hopefully Morgan have got some long term plans for its eventual replacement.

Would a modified Aero chassis be too dear for a Trad? The basic (low sale volume) Elise on a bonded aluminium chassis sells for below £30k, whether Lotus make a profit though........

When the 4/4 sport first came out it was just over 23T wasn't it? I remember it quickly went up to 26 and now seems to be over 30....how long has it been out? It must have been very underpriced initially then?
I also seem to rememberr that the runabout was announced as a car the factory could build when they weren't busy as it wasn't customer spec'd, I bought one actually and had it for a couple of years. When the sport came out I assumed it was for a similar reason, initially only in 3 colours etc..
nick

Good point Nick, the Runabout became the 4/4 Sport in market niche terms.
The difference with the Elise is the fibreglass body which must be cheaper to produce than the aluminium Morgan body.
An aluminium chassis, fibreglass bodied Morgan doesn't seem right, but if it was £26k new would probably sell.

Morgan GRP body didn't sell back in the 60s...

No it didn't. Maybe things have moved on. But I'd rather have what we've got.

I seem to remember that some years ago Mark Ledington told me that part of the rationale for pricing/spec of the Runabout was to keep the finance cost for purchasers below £200 p/mth.

In practice, it had the effect of boosting other trad sales as, once they were through the showroom door, most buyers went for a better spec bespoke 4/4 or Plus 4.