Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Aero 8, 2012< Plus 8, SuperSports, Coupe & Aeromax The New Morgan 160409

I spy with my little eye ! Is the new model shown in MMC's website article on Princess Royal's visit? I think we should be told! ;-)

Hmm well it looks very nice. However from all the hullabaloo I was expecting something a bit more dramatic / contentious, or at least some changes to the front end.

Having said that the pics there are rather limited, so I'll await the full shots with anticipation.

Thanks chaps behind the Princess - tomorrow then official photo's!

I would imagine that any significant changes to the structures front and rear would result in a massive spend on crash testing for the US and EU.

I guess changes to sheet metal and design outside of the key crash structures would allow them to move with less money sunk into legislative waste.

The less they spend on waste the better the products will be for us (if we can ever afford the new price points, not likely to be me I am afraid) in the long run.

Roll on the 150 year celebration and the AeroMax being seen as a "trad" compared to what they can create out of thin-air, passion and talent.

I might even be able to afford one by then.

An interesting post Rich with some very good points made. I think that once you get beyond basic transport, then the decisions on which car to have are not completely rational; as I well know. I think that you also are a victim of the same irrational behaviour, having already ready owned two Aero's and I won't mention the Masser, if you don't.

Customers for Aero's are aware that they are not buying into the reliability of a now mass-produced Porsche, but it is a bit like buying a bespoke suit rather than one from M&S, both do the same job and the M&S one is probably more than suitable for purpose as a business suit, but Saville Row is still selling a limited but impressive quantity of their suits (as do Brioni and Boss) at prices that mightily impress.

I think the first Aero was very much a form follows function sort of car, in the true Morgan tradition, and some of the design changes for the Series II onwards were not necessarily a huge improvement as has been said on this forum many times in the past. In many ways the Series II was the traditional horse designed by a committee, with that strabismic front-end, and the d/a treatment at the back. (Now I'm heading for the bush chased by the rest of the S2 mafia)...

This was cleared up somewhat with the Series III/IV, but it was obviously only a matter of time before the company came out with a new Aero model using Matt Humphries undoubted talents. The AeroMax, designed by Matt took the company into a different demographic and for many of the people who bought it (not me ) the cost was a very small part of their disposable income and Morgan probably under-estimated the huge demand for such an iconic car.

So that leaves us with the new Aero, which as we know has been entered for the Concorso D'Eleganza Villa D'Este and I think it is significant that Morgan has chosen this venue rather than the Geneva Motor show to launch the car. So far the price has not been fixed, though there are indicative figures, and the total quantity to be produced has not been etched in stone either, despite rumours to the contrary. Likewise, with production not expected until 2010 many aspects of the specification will change between now and then, even if the basic shape remains similar. After all it is entered in the Concept Cars and Prototypes section of the Concorso

I guess that with the move of the Aero up-market, it does leave space for an Aero chassis with a more powerful engine than the Roadster and a more trad-type body on it, but that is pure speculation on my part.

For me, I have ordered an Aero Supersports (Simon made me do it ) and consequently, I'll not be taking delivery of another Aero 8 this year.

Bet the Aero SS took a lot of arm twisting

I have now received from the photographer a very nice picture of the car, spoilt by me sitting inside it. He didn't say in his email if I could show it off yet, so have sent him a quick mail to ask the question!

As soon as I can, I'll post it. Unfortunately, it doesn't show off the rear treatment it is a fullon side view.

Still looking forward to seeing the full set of pics as it seems that there is a fair bit of additional detail on the new car which isn't apparrent from the pics on the morgan site right now. The interior is different too which would explain an increase in the cost too. All this goes some way to answering some of the points I raised above so as I said, I will reserve any judgement until I have seen it in full.

Brian you are completely right when you point out these are emotional purchases driven as much by the look feel heritage and desirability of the car, rather than the raw stats. This has to be true or we would all be driving caterham r500s. Not that I wouldn't like one of those in my garage too...

As far as I know, the interior will look identical to current Aero (except for a bit of space behind the seats). Seats in prototype are racing seats covered in leather but will be standard Aero/Aeromax seats in production model.