Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms TV tonight

The sucking up to serial buyers is inevitable.

I agree with Alistair.....under the radar is way better.

Tonight's MORGAN extravaganza with Dr Who and is mate puts Morgan back into prospective as a normal enthusiasts car. I think these days there is a lot of PR market ing behind MMC. Probably the new investment company.

A little unfair Ray, they had being raising the brands profile through TV for a bit, I am told one of the old directors made a job of it some time back

I think your missing the point Guy's.... those programs are made to entertain people who go to work by bus or moped and have never seen a Yacht or a Lambo and if they seen a Morgan would run away and throw bricks at it.

I must admit to a slight fear that the channel 5 programme might cause resentment towards Morgan owners which isn’t helpful.

I always hope that we don’t get the same jealous hostility that supercar owners get

MMC are definitely now presenting themselves as a luxury toy brand instead of a quirky enthusiasts sports car brand

It makes sense from a business point of view as prices rise and profit margins increase

I remember back in the late 80’s when a school friend put a deposit down on a Morgan which had a 6 year waiting list at the time (can’t remember which model but I assume it was a 4/4)

I remember him telling me that the final price was £15K which according to my inflation calculator is about £31K in today’s money

That’s a long, long way from the price of the new Plus Six

As is the engineering!

The point here is that if you produce in penny numbers as MMC do, then you inevitably have high costs. You can keep things simple and relatively crude as with the Trad but even then on any rational basis, the buyer is getting a poorly engineered car for premium money and buying for emotional not rational reasons. But as design progresses the market moves on. Generations younger than most of us dont get their hands dirty fiddling with grease guns - maintenenace is for dealers and not that often at that. They expect "infotainment" and blue tooth connectivity and things like cruise contraol and aircon. So MMC have no option but to modernise whilst still keeping their USP, the 1950s basic style. And the price goes ever upwards.

You either have the volume to compete on price or you dont have the volume and you try to offer something to compensate for the price you have to charge. Image is an important part of that.

Re Stewart's comments,
It's already happened to me. My clients for last twenty years or so used to comment that my choice of car was "eccentric" or "very English" or "cute", things like that. Then, about three years ago the comments began to change to "you must be making a lot of money" or "that looks expensive", things like that.
Suddenly, the attention went from my car to my fee!
In the end I stopped using the Mog for business.
Very sad indeed.
Nick

In my opinion the luxury end of the market is exactly where MMC want to be and this programme only confirms that. I would not be at all surprised to see the range reduced in the next 5/7 years to just three models: the Plus 6, the M3W and a Plus 4 using the new chassis with a 2 litre turbo charged engine and manual gearbox option, all of which will cost an arm and a leg. The Trad will disappear. I hope I am wrong.

I can't see Morgans as 'luxury cars' - they're almost at the opposite end of the scale, and all the better for it.

If you are in the market for a Bentley, you don't think "oh, hang on a minute, I've forgotten to put Morgan on my list".

I think a lot of the top end cars are not bought for luxury but for "look at me" reasons. The Morgan would fit into that category.