Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms MMC's longer term future

Mmmm, an Oat and Raisin engine, Tasty!

Seriously, I would dearly love a hybrid-engined, trad style roadster with an Aero chassis. If there's one thing that would make me sell my 4/4 and plunder the life savings, this would be it.

Sadly for me (but I hope not for MMC) such a vehicle is likely to be priced well out of the range of my wallet.

I can't really see a problem with an electric trad , the electric three wheeler seemed to get a lot of interest . I wonder how many of the Selfridges ones got ordered . I'm guessing they're still being "developed" .

As for pricing , as we approach the end of the summer there seem to be a fair number of new trads available . Am I the only one who thinks the prices being asked are getting too high ? £65k for a Roadster, £52k for a plus4 and £45k for a 4/4 seems to be typical .

If I had a Telsa, I would have to tow a electric generator to get the range I need.

Think BMW i8 and you may have your answer

The question I have is, in the 2050 world of autonomous electric vehicles will there be any enthusiasts left? And if there is, will they be allowed to drive on public roads? At what point, and after how many human caused accidents (which virtually all accidents now are), will the authorities step in and say no more human drivers? In that world, how many people will want to own any car, never mind a Morgan trad? Won't they all just whip out the smartphone and order up a generic auto-Uber pod to meet them at the curb? I suspect that not many of us TMers will be around to see the answers.

No, you're not. There are obviously people out there who can cough 70 to 100 thousand pounds for what is essentially a toy, but there aren't that many of them, and competition for their money is fierce.

Even relatively well-off people have to make decisions as to what's the best way to spend their money when it's this kind of expenditure being talked about - do they buy a car? or a Motor home? or a boat? or help the kids with deposits for mortgages? Or build an extension to the house? Or (in my case) build a new garage?

But it must be very difficult for MMC to hold the prices down, I'm sure they don't charge more than they have to for the cars, they know the competition as well as any.

There is a new battery solution Li/O2 coming up. Should give the same range as a full tank of gas (Petrol). At least 10 years away. Published in Scientific American (I think)

It is just a matter of time and Morgan will be forced to supply cars with ABS, and airbags. Other issues such as pedestrian safety may come into consideration. At that point a relatively modern platform will be required and that will see the end of the long outer dated trad chassis.
Morgan will be dragged kicking and screaming into the last quarter of the 20th century.

Prices have long been out of the range of affordability for all bar the reasonably well off but they will soon surpass that level, if they have not already. Morgan could reduce costs significantly by moving away from "near enough is good enough" to standard, off the shelf, pre-drilled, body parts. The cars could then be built much faster by less skillful workers. It is quite ridiculous that no two cars have the same mudguards, not to mention bonnets and doors. Everything is cut and fitted by hand. Fine for a one off but ridiculous for a production of 800 or more trads a year.

I'm having fun with my car but I'm not sure that I would buy another at today's prices. Our car, with the extras that I ordered, (but not the modifications since performed) would now cost very close to €70,000.

I don't want to be pessimistic but I see it very hard for Morgan to survive in its current form and with the ingrained culture within the company. If they don't start changing soon it will be too late.

I bet Steve Morris wishes he had a pound for every time he heard that..!

The best times are here & now. Go enjoy

Are you sure it is an easy task to change the way of production? I would guess that it is not so easy to build cars to be exact duplicates on a base of mixing hand crafted work with Toyota like standards, if that makes sense. It could become much more difficult to prepare every single car to match pre drilled parts etc. But I like basically your idea a lot.