Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Roadster changes.

Have to agree with DaveW. An Aero S5 would seem to be a better bet depending on the the price point it came in at. Developing an Aero trad for the 80 (?) or so engines they are rumoured to be left does not seem cost effective.

As part of an even wider thread drift. Do the MMC really need the Luxe ranges anymore? With the Low volume exemption limit going up to 1000 the future of the trad seems assured, and they now have the M3W Income stream. A lot of it comes down to how the directors are rewarded I guess. But am I alone in thinking that the Eve GT, undoubtedly beautiful as it is, may be a car too far for the MMC?

The Eva will work if numbers are kept down, but tooling cost spread over a short production run equals a big price tag unless subsidised from other models, and there is a risk of the Eva becoming a modern +4+. Closed specialised coupes have limited appeal. Toy cars are more fun with no roof, and there are plenty of examples out there.

Apart from hearing the well verified rumour, I have no knowledge whatever of the engineering!!!

Cheers

yes, I agree but IF they do have the Beemer engines and cash IS owing on these or has been paid and they need to recoup outlay it mght still be an option
C'mon Dave, if you were a small manufacturer and you had engines eating your money in the corner of the Factory, what would you do!!
Cheers,
G

The cost of the surplus V8's could already have been covered by profits from sales of Aero SS so whatever MMC sticks them in is a win win situation as far as the bottom line is concerned, though I don't know what a BMW v8 costs if they were Rover units they left Solihull at about £45 for a short engine......

Build S5 Aeros G, that's what I'd be doing, and selling at less than S4 list.

I must say I have got all excited over this news. I know Dave W is talking sense about the V6 being so much more balanced in the Roadster. But if we were sensible people would we own a Morgan at all. Since discovering the Morgan motor car I have yet to make a logical decision or purchase, it has all been driven by passion and plain madness. Look at all those people waiting for the M3W, a 3 year wait for just 3 wheels, there is no shortage of lunacy.
I can feel another mad decision coming on.

I really don't think that will be the case here. I suspect that- following normal motor industry practice MMC will have had to pay a fair proportion( if not all ) of the cost up front and/ or securitised against that.

Given that the Aero/SS was always predicted on a fairly specific production run and this has not been fulfilled. MMC could be looking to use those BMW engines in any way they can. Moreover, with a production run shortfall which is, in percentage terms, fairly large, I can't see any way they will have made sufficient profit to absorb the loss on the unused engines

£45 quid a short engine? I suspect you might be talking in multiples of ten times that per unit here?
G

PS ( and this is with my cynic's hat on) I quake to think how MMC would/will deal with the electrical/ management interface bewteen the Beemer -supplied kit and their own stuff. They couldn't do it in the Aeros- how the heck are they going to manage it in a trad?

Still, at least it will keep silicone goo suppliers in business.
G

I admit I'm going back a few years but Rover v8 short engines without ancillaries/fuel system were invoiced at £45 to a company doing some development work for Land Rover

Don't doubt it at all, but you're not comparing like with like here. The Beemer V8 as fitted to the Aeros and SS is a totally different engine from a different era
At the risk of being churlish, it's also, in Beemer terms an 'old' engine which they now have little use for, so they are not, I think going to take them back even if this was an established practice in the industry- which it isn't

Towards the latter end of things, the Buick/ Oldsmobile V8 was an engine far beyond it time which was falling foul of just about every emission test going, so £ 45 quid wasn't a bad price
G