Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms End Of The Road With Morgan.

Reminds me of when I went to the MX5 owners day by mistake - plenty of swap offers but six for one wouldn’t tempt me.

I have watched the price rises carefully over the last 10 years. While my own car (bought used) has steadily but slowly increased in value, the gap between what mine is worth and the cost of a new one has rapidly increased. This option is unaffordable for me but in any case irrelevant as the car is an indulgence, not a necessity, is nowhere near becoming worn out, and can be maintained “as new” indefinitely due to its design and construction. So the “trade-in/trade-up every 3 years” model of ownership is irrelevant, and I suspect the same applies to many Morgan owners. At least for the trads.

If the future is aluminium chassis trad-alikes at £80k, I suspect the vast majority of existing trad owners will hang on to their current cars, or trade within the used market. And the value of our trads can only rise. That means the company will have to continually look to customers who are new to the marque, and who will need to be “minted” in order to play. I don’t see that working out well, especially with the demise of new-build ICE-engined cars only 20 years away. Also the relentless move up market will be a challenge for existing dealers, surely.

It's a changing automotive world with more and more legal barriers stopping the sale of the likes of the Trad.

Look at the US market for instance.

They have to adapt or die.

I agree completely.
The number of people with the knowledge and skill to restore and maintain classic cars is limited and declining as we age. The baby-boomer generation is the last that grew up with cars that needed regular DIY maintenance.

In the modern disposable world no successful car maker can afford to focus on the past in any way other than the approach JLR has done in re-manufacturing old Jaguars and Land Rovers. I believe this business model will expand to other cherished brands.

I do wonder if the long term future of MMC is to take volume manufacture to a new factory and run the old one as a visitor experience so we can watch craftsmen re-manufacturing old trads and selling them at the same price point as the new cars, plus a regular series of "Special Projects", in the style of SP1.

There are more than enough old trads out in the Morgan world and by taking this approach it would ensure the supply of spares for those able to look after their classics.

Peter,

I think your penultimate paragraph is the ideal solution. If I were a Morgan shareholder I think my goal would be that exact outcome with the 111th yeast range onwards being built elsewhere under ownership of whoever wants to take on the business from the VC’s and the Malvern facility fall back into sole family trust ownership.

The SP team would handle the re-manufacture/restoration of the Radshape chassis Aero’s to keep them occupied between special projects.

Interesting thread. Ignoring the price, the cars need to be updated to attract new buyers. Most on this site have modified their cars to make the ride etc acceptable.
Most threads are about the upgrades & maintenance. These modifications increase the overall price. I am with peter in that in 2011 I was expecting the equivalent to the new plus 6. Descent ride road holding safety brakes etc. What a shock to find I had to change all the shocks on day one just to get the car to go around corners. Since then more + more has had to be done.
Morgan will not be in business in a few years if they were still only going to produce cars that need people who buy the cars to work on.
Hopefully the new products will entice new buyers who just wish to enjoy the cars.

I think your being a bit unfair to Morgan there Ice Pack,you expected a four four sigma on sliding pillar suspension to be an equivalent of a new plus 6. My daughter bought a Panda but didn't expect it to drive like a ferrari.

Em

Aerotaff that is the point. In 2011 for 36G & not knowing Morgans I expected better. Maybe not Ferrari but at least MX5. At the time sliding pillar didn’t mean anything to me. (I came from a MGBGT)
I am sure new customers today for 78G would also expect something reasonable, which I think the plus6 is addressing.

There were many threads on here saying that the four four was the purest driving Morgan you can't have it both ways . To expect a classic morgan to drive like an mx5 is folly. A trad is more than fancy air filters and suspension upgrades enjoy it for what it is.

Em

[u][/u]. Yes, but it's more than twice the price.