Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Plus Four, Supersport & Plus Six (CX & CXV Generation Vehicles) Morgan Plus MY23

In addition to all the technical and regulatory reasons, I wonder whether Morgan also killed the Trad in order to be able to justify such extreme price jumps. That would not have been possible with the old models, but with a new product, as you can see, it is.

I will admit I was not surprised when they bought out the Plus Four/Six as a replacement for the Aero given the emissions world we live in now. I was very surprised that they also killed the Trad given the driving experience is what a lot of the (current owners) love about it. It does make some sense to have one product family going down the line and the heritage/handmade(ish) does deserve recognition in this market given how RR, Bentley, Aston et all trade on it.

It was brave jump and planned and executed prior to the II purchase. I still applaud them for making the jump. Perhaps they should have considered doing a Lotus and hiving the Trad line off to a Caterham style partner. Still time to do it yet - and the money could be put into Dev/QA !

A corresponding price increase would certainly have happened with the old Trad as well.
At the moment, a company can only absorb the increase in costs for wages, materials and energy through price increases.
In the special case of Morgan, where more or less purchased parts are assembled by hand, almost nothing can be rationalized.
High inflation will inevitably lead to a wage-price spiral. This will be no different in the UK than in Germany.

The Plus four/six is now a replacement for everything in the range...........other than the new car with only 3 wheels, no roof and a £50k price tag.

There have been numerous posts over the last few years speculating on EU or global regulations for new cars and how they would affect small scale car production in Malvern.

I'm sure that some or maybe many rules and regulations would have made a substantial difference to the production of trad cars.
I'm also sure that the ambition of the management and the Italians to enter a new market has had an equal, if not greater difference on the direction of travel of MMC and the demise of the trad car.

I agree with the point that many owners specifically bought trad cars BECAUSE of all their foible and faults, having the 'driving experience' of a vintage car without having to rebuild it every weekend!
It seems to be a reckless and radical business decision to ditch the very thing you're known for building.

The last 3.7 Roadsters were sold in Europe at €80,000. Selling the Plus Four at 90000€ with a new chassis, was reasonable. An explosion of prices and options is a dangerous game. Buy a car 120000€ and have water inside at the first rain........

It will be difficult to say: "it's normal, it's Morgan"

But it also meant changing a 3.7-liter six-cylinder against a 2-liter four-cylinder. Considering the price increase, that doesn't
look like a great deal to me.

Another interesting aspect is one attraction of the trad cars is the owner modifications for some… you just have to look on here for the various enchantments people do, as well as the simplicity of them for self servicing etc.. both aspects are not really available on the CX cars due to the far greater complexity of the base car.. Any trad Morgan would be fine to own in 30 years I am not sure if I could say the same for a Aero or CX car..

Owners of the Trad cars are all ageing, not to many younger people want to get the spanners out and do their own repairs or servicing, the average age Mog car club member must be mid sixties at least, MCC had no alternative but to build a new modern car and aim at a new younger affluent market, in past downturns the top end of car market suffered the least.
The CX is a quality product far better built and more useable than any Trad, we know the problems they have suffered but long term with Ali bodies and chassis, no replacement steel chassis rot of the Trads to worry about.

I agree they had to change target clients but don't agree with your long term thought.
A huge percentage of the old cars are still on the road because of the simple construction. The new aluminium cars can't survive any form of accidental damage and are proving to be written off at the same rate as all modern aluminium cars. They can't be economically rebuilt. They just won't be around long term. They are properly modern..i.e short term...which may well be a good thing, I'm not putting a value judgement on this.
Nick

I think that will be part of the sting in the tail for the CX Morgans, they still try to appeal to traditional/antiquated design concepts eg side screens which are not weather proof, difficult to store/carry when not in use and the one concession Morgan should have adopted is some form of wind up window ( especially for those countries that are not guaranteed dry weather all year round). Sometimes practicality has to come to the fore, and some concessions made to modernity and everyday practicality especially with highly spec luxury interiors and fitments that wont enjoy water ingress.

Whilst I may have considered side screen gaps that opened up at speed and allowed the elements in on my 1985 4/4 and using bungee straps across the frame to try and keep the gaps as small/tight as possible. wearing wax cottons on the inside when it rained and keeping a leather chammy to hand to wipe the inside of the screen when it rained and water dripping down the centre console onto my leg was at one point an endearing characteristic, maybe not so much today. It was never any fun turning up in the Morgan looking like a drowned rat during inclement weather.
Existing Morgan owners will understand these characteristics and even appreciate the efforts taken to improve hood design etc. I'm not so sure that new customers to the brand will see it as a endearing feature if the cabin is not at least watertight.